The World Kanon Only Knows
by xellos540
Summary: Fourth installment in The World Not Only God Knows series, following the events of The World Mio Only Knows. It's Kanon's turn to try and conquer the God of Conquest. Will she be able to succeed in both making Keima her boyfriend and progressing with her super idol career? Read to find out! Post-manga.
1. Flag 64: Believe in me

**Hello, everyone!**

 **A little late, but here it is: the first chapter of "The World Kanon Only Knows" – the fourth installment in "The World Not Only God Knows" and direct sequel of sorts to "The World Mio Only Knows".**

 **If I remember right, quite a few people were waiting for it, so here it starts. I hope you'll enjoy it.**

 **As always, we start with the general author's notes for the entire story, which are quite important, so give it a read, especially if you haven't read the other stories in the series.**

 **0\. Disclaimer: I don't own The World God Only Knows", being it manga or anime. I do own this fanfiction story though.**

 **1\. The main focus of the story is romance between Kanon Nakagawa and Keima Katsuragi.**

 **2\. For the best experience my readers should have read: (1) "The world god only knows" manga (anime doesn't cover enough, although it's better than nothing), (2) "The World Not Only God Knows" fanfiction and (3) "The World Ayumi Only Knows" fanfiction. Without it you might have serious trouble understanding what's happening and why it's happening.**

 **3\. The story is T-rated and that will most likely not change. You can expect some swearing, perhaps some adult themes and considerable number of innuendos.**

 **4\. About the frequency of the updates – I will talk about that after the chapter.**

 **5\. As for Kanon herself, I just want to say in advance that I have my own vision of her. I mean, in the anime Kanon is portrayed as yandere-ish, compulsive and having low self-esteem. Furthermore, in the third season she's doesn't do much. What I want to say is that some or most of those won't be featured in this fanfiction. This is primarily because Kanon already had a lot of character development and acts differently now. In particular, I'm not fond of her using her obviously not safe stun guns out of the blue. Of course, this doesn't mean we won't see the stun guns being used at least once in this fic, but if someone expects trigger-happy Kanon then it's very unlikely he/she will see one.**

 **6\. Next important point is the length of this fanfiction. I'm concerned with how much time it takes me to complete a story (MioNomi took over a year!). Moreover, while I like Kanon, I don't like her as much as I do Ayumi and Mio. I also should have more time when summer break comes, which will hopefully be good. All this means I'm very determined to have this story be shorter (or at least completed in shorter time). On the other hand, I realize Kanon is not easy to write about, as her developing relationship with Keima will be difficult due to her position as a top idol (meaning both her public image and amount of free time). I'd also very much like to go back to posting pokemakes once in a while. I guess we'll see about all that. Wish me luck!  
**

 **7\. Lastly, I very much encourage you to support this story, whether it is by viewing, reviewing, following or favoriting. Please let me see how many Kanon fans are out there.**

 **That's everything for now I guess.**

 **Enjoy!**

 **(* * *)**

At first there was a faint metallic rustle followed by a click. Then the door opened with a creak as a lone figure of a young woman entered the room.

"Tadaima," the woman said, although the only response was the silence of the empty apartment.

The woman unbuttoned and took off her coat, before hanging it on the hook. Then it took her a few moments to take off her high that she walked, or rather dragged herself, into the bedroom and stopped in front of the container holding the only other living being in the apartment.

"Hey, how is my little boy doing?" the girl cooed, leaning over the container.

Kintarō, the nearly four year-old pet turtle, didn't react much, slowly traveling throughout the length of the container, illuminated by a single lamp – the only currently strong source of light in the apartment. The woman observed the turtle for a few seconds, before bringing the pet fresh parsley to feed on and giving the turtle a few playful strokes.

After that the woman headed for the bathroom and 10 minutes later she emerged, wrapped in a towel. She then changed into her pajamas, once or twice looking as if she would just fall asleep, before crawling under the covers.

For a few seconds everything was quiet and dark until there was a sudden flash of light. It's possible the woman didn't even see that, her face hidden in the pillow, but she couldn't pretend to ignore the voice that followed.

"Kanon... Kanon… Kanon!" the voice insisted.

Kanon Nakagawa, famous teen idol groaned, rolling over to look at the window and, sure enough, Apollo, the second oldest of the Jupiter sisters was there, her halo and wings shining lightly.

"We need to talk" the goddess said.

"Not now, Apollo," Kanon replied weakly. "It was a long day and I have to get up in 4 hours,"she turned away from the goddess, "we'll talk in the morning."

"You said that yesterday… and in the morning you said you were in a hurry and that we'll talk in the evening," the goddess said, her arms crossed over her chest, voice sounding a bit offended, "we need to talk now."

Kanon groaned again.

"Okay, what is so important?" not only was Kanon tired, but she also suspected what Apollo wanted to talk about.

"When are you going to finally do something about Keima Katsuragi?" the goddess asked, making Kanon groan again.

"It has already been several days since that blond girl returned," Apollo continued when Kanon was silent. "The only reason I agreed to wait this long was because Vul-nee ordered me to!" the goddess was obviously more used to giving orders to her younger sisters than listening to Vulcan. "But now Katsuragi should be good to go, so it's time to move!"

"How about we wait for a few more days?" Kanon tried. "Just to be sure..."

"But we are sure!" Apollo all but shouted. "And the next in order is Minerva's host. I know they're both shy, but if we tarry anymore, they'll try to cut in!"

"Is it really so bad?" Kanon asked. "I mean cutting in. It's not like Keima-kun is going anywhere…"

"He is going somewhere!" Apollo objected. "The more we wait, the more likely Keima-kun is to go for Kosaka!"

"But Chihiro-san agreed to-" Kanon said, but was interrupted.

"Yes, I know she agreed to this, but she will lose patience eventually" Apollo, rebutted. "Besides, Katsuragi doesn't know. If we wait we risk him learning the truth or even worse, going for Kosaka on his own!"

Kanon moved nervously at that, while Apollo shook her head.

"I just don't get it," the goddess said after a moment. "You love him. I don't need to ask it. I know it. I can feel it. It's like you're trying to stall on purpo-" at this Apollo stopped abruptly. The rusty cogs in the head of medium goddess started to move slowly and a few seconds later Kanon could feel Apollo's stare boring into the back of her skull.

"Kanon…" Apollo said slowly, her eyes and voice full of skepticism, making the idol gulp. "You're not deliberately avoiding making a move with Katsuragi, are you?"

When she could no longer bear the force of the gaze, Kanon replied.

"Well… I kinda am."

"But whyyyyy!?" Apollo half-asked, half-shouted, raising her hands upwards and groping the air in frustration.

Kanon sat up, deciding to get it over with.

"Look, you've heard what Vulcan-san said," she started, "after the thing is done my memories will be gone," she bit her lip. "Suddenly, I'm not so sure, I want to do this anymore…"

Apollo was quiet for a longer moment, her eyes squinted – she was apparently thinking hard about something.

"I don't get it!" she gave up. "If Vul-nee hadn't shown us the orb and you had given up on Katsuragi then I would have been able to understand. But now?" Apollo leaned over the glass pane. "How do you want to go on now that there's a chance like that in front of you? You won't be able to stop thinking about it. You _aren't_ able to stop thinking about it already!"

Kanon bit her lip. The last remark hit home. It was the only way Kanon could be more than friends with Keima while not hurting Chihiro's or anyone else's feelings in the process.

"You were that reluctant back then in the infirmary! And the more you wait, the less likely you are to succeed! All this worrying even started to affect your work!"

That was also something Kanon could not deny.

"But, it still doesn't change the fact!" Kanon persisted, her frustration straining any patience she had remaining. "I don't want to lose my memories! Who would like their relationship to end with that!?"

There was another long pause and then Apollo coughed a bit.

"Well, I know I'm stupid," the goddess started. "but, to be frank, I don't get it at all. Why is that 'losing memories' thing such a problem?"

"You can't be that stupid" Kanon groaned.

"But think about it for a moment," Apollo started, making Kanon groan again at the very prospect of the idiot goddess thinking. "Let's assume there is no orb, no Kosaka and no competition. Let's assume that Katsuragi has chosen you. What would happen then?"

"He would go out with me… I guess" Kanon speculated.

"And then?" Apollo asked.

"We would go on dates…"

"And then?"

"Um… we would probably get married one day" Kanon blushed when she imagined the scenario.

"And then?"

"Maybe we would have kids…"

"And then?"

"...and live our lives in gentle bliss?" Kanon tried.

"And after all that?" Apollo persisted. "Waaay after all that?"

"We would both die eventually, I guess…"

"Exactly!" Apollo exclaimed, apparently happy that Kanon finally mentioned that. "And what happens after you die?"

"After we die?" Kanon repeated slowly.

"You know how Heaven and New Hell work," Apollo raised one finger, like a teacher making a point. "Your soul will be sent to New Hell for purification and then it will be redistributed again. It's more or less what you people refer to as reincarnation."

Kanon was quiet, shocked by Apollo being uncharacteristically smart today.

"After your soul is purified and you reincarnate you won't remember anything," Apollo summarized. "I don't see how is that different from the orb. In both cases, you won't remember anything once you die, being it death in this world or in the orb! In that case I don't really see why you are against using the orb! It will solve a lot of problems and…" Apollo stopped, looking at her host, confused.

Throughout the goddess' speech, Kanon eyes went wide and she opened her mouth. And it stayed that way once the idol realized what Apollo was implying.

"Apollo!" Kanon exclaimed. "You're a genius!"

"I am?" the goddess repeated, unsure.

"Yes… at least that thought was genius," Kanon admitted. "I never thought of it that way!"

Apollo remained quiet for several long moments, watching Kanon digest this new information, not failing to notice the change in her host's heart.

"So…" the goddess tried carefully after giving Kanon a few more seconds. "Are you going to talk to Vul-nee's host about the orb?"

"I…," Kanon started, still somewhat unsure, "I will think about it… but right now I _really_ need to sleep."

Having said this, Kanon once again lied down and pulled the quilt over her head, the drowsiness getting to her again.

"Thanks, Apollo" she whispered.

"You got it!" the goddess replied, but Kanon didn't hear it – with some of her worries disappearing and her exhaustion catching up to her the sleep overtook her instantly.

(* * *)

It was Saturday and Kanon somehow managed to get a break from her work for several hours, although only after surviving an interrogation from her manager and the idol answered the questions the best she could without revealing more...paranormal things. She wasn't completely comfortable with that, but it was necessary in order to do what she wanted to do.

Yes, Kanon had decided to go along with the orb idea, the explanation from Apollo and having slept on it helping to solidify her resolution.

Currently the idol was walking back from the Astronomy clubroom. The coat she was wearing indoors drew some confused stares, but it was far better than being recognized. The talk with Vulcan went as well as a talk with floating doll could go. Tsukiyo didn't say much, silently giving Kanon her permission and now the third orb was tucked into Kanon's bag as the girl continued to walk throughout the corridors, heading towards her next destination.

The light music clubroom.

She hesitated in front of the clubroom door, hearing the music from inside. For a moment Kanon wondered if she should wait or not. Finally, she knocked on the door, before opening it and sticking her head inside.

"Ano… Kosaka-san," she said nervously when 5 pairs of curious eyes rested on her, "can I talk with you for a moment?"

"What is it?" Chihiro asked when she was walked outside. "Are you from the Maijima newspaper looking to interview our band?"

"It's me, Chihiro-san" Kanon took of her beret and glasses, so the band leader could recognize her.

"Whaa? Kanon-chan!" Chihiro didn't say anymore, because Kanon covered her mouth.

"Shh!" the idol whispered. "No-one is supposed to know I'm here."

"So, what is this about?" Chihiro asked, still not completely comfortable with the famous idol acting that familiar with her.

"Well, I wanted to ask about your permission," Kanon said and then explained the situation to Chihiro.

"Oh, you mean that… but I gave all of you my permission earlier, so feel free to do it," Chihiro replied. "If I understand it right, then you still need to ask that red-haired goddess for new orb though."

"I already have," the idol said.

"And she gave you one?" Chihiro asked and Kanon nodded. "Can I see it?"

Kanon reached into her bag and retrieved the orb. It was looking pretty much the same as the ones Ayumi and Mio had used before – dark and big enough to barely fit in a palm of one's hand with pulsating arcane symbols inside.

"So that's how it looks like," Chihiro said, as she took the orb. "It's heavier than I thought. So, Katsuragi has to touch it?"

"Yes," Kanon said.

"Any idea how are you going to make him do that?"

"I'm not sure," Kanon replied worriedly. "From what I heard, Keima-kun doesn't realize what is happening and Vulcan-san has told us it would be better if it stayed that way," the idol paused for a moment. "I don't like deceiving Keima-kun like that, but Vulcan-san has a point…"

It was Chihiro's turn to nod. "That's right. Be careful though. I can laugh at him all I want, but Katsuragi's really smart. He might not remember, but he will notice something is off."

"I know," Kanon smiled fondly and if Chihiro had any doubts that Kanon had feelings for Keima then that smile dispelled them altogether.

"Well, good luck then," Chihiro handed the orb back, even though she thought Kanon didn't need such a thing as luck, "do you need anything else?"

"Actually, yes," Kanon put the orb in her bag, "could you ask Eri-san to come here?"

Chihiro went back inside the clubroom and a moment later Eri came out.

"Kanon-chan!?" she exclaimed in both shock and excitement.

"Hello, Eri, "Kanon greeted. "I have a favor to ask."

(* * *)

"Thank you for your patronage, please visit us again!" the clerk said as Keima Katsuragi walked out of his favorite game shop and into the cold December air, carrying a bag full of games.

Well, it wasn't that full actually. Between Eri being now a permanent addition to the family and him growing more conscious of his family budget, Keima has reduced the number of games he was buying at a time.

There might've been a third reason as well – namely, him having less time to play games because of having to deal with the girls. However, it wasn't that bad. Come to think of it, since that day when the girls cornered him at the railway station, there hasn't been that many events.

Him talking with Chihiro and visiting Kaori in the hospital didn't count fully as Keima had initiated those events himself. Urara transferring to Mai High had been unexpected, but so far it hadn't resulted in any further dangerous flags. Then there had been that short talk with Jun Nagase. Over the weekend Sumire had brought him breakfast and he had met Nanaka in Tenri's house.

All of those events were a bit strange, but it only got stranger after that.

Some days ago, Keima had woken up and found Diana fretting over him and soon after that Ayumi had arrived and demanded he give her her first kiss back. Those events might have been strange, but they were undoubtedly real – there was no doubt about it in Keima's mind...

However, there had been another event with Ayumi. One when she had kicked down the door to his room and demand he take responsibility or something. The problem with this one was that Keima wasn't sure it really happened, the memory of it being very vague to say the least.

Now, Keima knew he played a lot of games and he sometimes hallucinated about them. However, his hallucinations pertained to game heroines. Not to real girls.

Had this really happened? Then what was the memory so blurry? Was it a hallucination or a dream? But why would he dream or hallucinate about Ayumi?

And it didn't stop there. Another memory was him in Mio's house. The blond claimed Yui brought him there and he did kinda remember meeting Yui before that. But this one memory was vague as well. And why would Yui bring him to Mio's apartment of all places?

Come to think of it, the next thing Keima remembered was him waking up in his own bed. No Diana, no Ayumi, Yui or Mio. There was only Eri, claiming he has been out for a whole day.

Did the thing with Yui and Mio was simply a dream? Or maybe the new memories he had received were the reason his mind was playing tricks on him? Should he consult someone about it? Maybe Diana or the devils?

Nah, Haqua and Diana would just tell him to stop playing games…

...and he wasn't sure he wanted to know how Nora or Rimyuel would react.

Ultimately, he decided to not do anything for now. The last several days were fairly calm after all – the only real people he had to deal with lately being his family and classmates.

So perhaps it was just an isolated case, he concluded as he headed home.

(* * *)

Keima entered the café and looked around to check the customers. It was one of his new half-conscious habits he had developed after Shiori, Tsukiyo, Minami and Sumire had ambushed him here (the last one twice so far). However, this time the customers were all normal adults and there was no-one he knew.

He wondered whether that was a good or bad sign. I mean, he had sent that one e-mail, telling the girls to leave him a lone for a while… but that was a while ago already.

Did it mean that his life returned to some semblance of "normality"? No, Keima shook his head as he walked upstairs. It was too early to conclude that, if his experiences with the real were anything to go by.

And then there was Chihiro, who was acting kind of weird as well. She and Keima had agreed to give them both some time to think, but Keima had noticed that she kept more distance, as if she wasn't in any hurry. And he could understand if she had been ignoring him and being angry to match, but no – she was looking at him from time to time, but she seemed strangely relaxed and content.

Just what was going on?

Keima walked inside his room and started to unpack his games. He was in the middle of it when he heard a sound he did not expect.

Someone clearing his throat.

It took Keima by surprise and he yelped, turning to the source of the sound and was immediately corrected.

Someone clearing _her_ throat.

In front of him there was Kanon Nakagawa, sitting on his bed.

"Good day, Keima-kun," the super idol greeted.

"Kanon?" Keima asked as if he didn't believe it. "What are you doing here?"

"Ah… I decided to pay you a visit."

"By breaking into my my house?" he questioned.

"Eri gave me permission" Kanon informed him.

"This isn't Eri's room," Keima noticed, "it's mine."

"Well… it's not like I haven't been here before," the idol reached out with her hand, smoothing out the wrinkles on Keima's bed, "I spent quite a while lying here," she said, reminiscing the time when her life was hanging by the thread with more joy than Keima expected.

He didn't respond immediately, pulling out his PFP and pressing some buttons instead.

"Aren't you supposed to be at work?" he asked finally.

"I have a day off today," Kanon said.

"Really? Because the Internet says you have a concert a good distance from Maijima in several hours," Keima showed her his PFP which backed up his claim.

"Aah… about that," Kanon scratched her head, "I managed to get a substitute for today."

Keima was silent. He knew of exactly one Kanon-obsessed firetruck-lover who could substitute for the idol.

"Okay… but why are you here?" Keima asked finally, deciding to face this new flag.

"I'd… rather not tell you that..." Kanon replied slowly as she stood up and walked closer. "But… I guess you could say it's because I'm greedy."

"Is it a good parameter for an idol?" Keima asked. He didn't back up, but Kanon saw him tense a bit.

"Don't worry," she told him, "I'm not going to tase you," she then paused for a moment, before going back to what he had said. "I guess everyone is greedy to some extent. That was also my problem before you helped me, remember? Being greedy for attention… But I guess you're right. Being greedy is not a good thing… That's why I need your help again, Keima-kun," she was now pretty much face to face with him. "Help me get rid of this greed. God of Conquest won't refuse a request from a heroine, right?"

"That's only for heroines and only in games…" Keima said.

"How about your new friends?" Kanon countered.

"You know about me and Chihiro, right?" he reminded her.

"I know. And I know I stand no chance," she looked down before looking back at him again, resolve clear on her face, "that's why I need you to help me get rid of it!"

"And what if I don't agree to help you?" Keima tilted his head and Kanon could sense he was actually curious.

"Then that's it, I guess," Kanon admitted. "But I promise that it won't be too much of a bother, nor will it upset your relationship with Chihiro-san."

After that Kanon went quiet and both of them engaged in some sort of a staring conquest.

"I guess you're not going to say much more" Keima said finally.

Kanon shook her head. "I'd rather not."

"Alright," Keima spoke after a moment."Let's assume I believe you and I agree to help you," he pushed up his glasses. "What do I have to do?"

Kanon retrieved the orb. Keima blinked, before reaching out with his hand, but Kanon pulled the orb back.

"Not yet" she told him.

"What do you mean 'not yet'?" he asked."Where did you get something like that?"

"I'm sorry, but I can't answer any of that," Kanon bit her lip, "Now, I won't force you to do this. I will only ask that you believe in me as I once believed in you," with this she extended her hand with the orb, clearing motioning for him to grab it.

After that there was silence. Kanon tried to remain calm, but she knew she was shaking a bit and Keima could see it.

"Do you know what's going to happen?" he asked.

"Yes," Kanon told him, "we're both going to be asleep for about a day."

Keima groaned. "Then there goes my weekend."

"I'm sorry" Kanon looked down.

"Is it safe?" Keima asked.

"Yes," she replied. "And I made sure your family won't be worried… and Chihiro-san won't be angry with you either," she added when Keima opened his mouth.

"Two last questions," he spoke again. "Will I regret this?"

"I will make sure you won't," Kanon replied.

"And are you sure you want this?"

"Yes" she said with conviction.

He sighed.

"Alright then, I believe in you" he reached out with his arm, his hand hovering above the orb. "Why do I have the feeling that's not the first time I'm doing this?"

Kanon didn't reply. Instead she closed her eyes, raised her head and smiled.

A moment later she realized that Keima must've touched the orb, because despite her closed eyelids, she saw a multitude of colors flash and flow before they turned to expanding darkness that consumed all.

 **(* * *)**

 **So here it is.**

 **This chapter could be much shorter, but I wanted to touch upon several subjects.**

 **First, I kinda summarized what has been happening since around flags 13–17 of KamiNomiNai (the day the girls cornered Keima at the railway station) till now. It actually turns out it was already December when AyumiNomi starts and now it's around December the 10th. It also kinda means Chihiro's birthday have passed... :/  
**

 **...and Keima couldn't even think about participating, but you can't blame him – he was kidnapped by Yui and then MioNomi happened...**

 **Speaking of Chihiro, I included her here, even though she already gave her blessings to the girls. I guess it shows how concerned about her Kanon is.**

 **Anyway, the second thing I wanted to address here was showing something on Keima's side – what he thinks and what he knows of what's happening. I haven't yet decided if he will find out about everything and when will it happen, but he at the very leasts notices strange happenings. Or maybe it's all his delusions? xD**

 **Third thing is actually something rather important. I wanted to address "girls will lose their inside-orb memories" issue. Well, not much as address, but to point out that losing memories is going to happen anyway at some point. Furthermore, having memories of the orb world would definitely interfere with girls further lives, so yeah.**

 **Apollo being smart is weird though...**

 **Moving on, there's one important thing concerning the frequency of updates or rather when next update will happen. I'll be frank, I still don't have plot planned for KanonNomi and I won't have that much free time for the next week or so. I wanted to post the prologue, but the chapter after that won't be up quickly. In short: don't expect an update for the next month or so. I know this might be the longest break yet, but don't worry – I'll be back.**

 **The title of this chapter is a reference to one of the songs Kanon sings (not exactly solo though). I think I'll try to reference as many of her songs as I can.**

 **There is also reference to "It's not like I like you" tsundere song.**

 **I kindly ask you to favorite and follow the story as well as drop me a review. I'd very much appreciate that.**

 **I think that's it for now. Please give my next chapter a read when it finally gets posted.**

 **See you next time!**


	2. Flag 65: A new season

**Hello everyone!**

 **I'm finally back with the second chapter of KanonNomi! To tell you the truth, it was being written really slowly and the ideas that pushed the story forward came to me at complete accident. And I didn't really plan that much of the plot... mostly the stuff for the next chapter or two.**

 **And I hope the next chapter will be out in 2 weeks, but we'll see...**

 **As for this chapter, it's not exactly a breakthrough or anything and some of it my seems slow and similar to the prologue and I'm sorry for that.**

 **Anyway (third paragraph in a row started with "A" xD), I want to thank you for that 40 favs/follows and 10 reviews from the prologue chapter as well as for all the views. I hope you'll all like how this story develops. Here are the replies to reviews:**

 **Sir Sleeps-a-lot:** Yup and thank you :). I wouldn't mind having my stories write themselves too xD. There's probably going to be more Chihiro than in MioNomi, but probably not as much as you'd like to. Yay, fro Apollo's speech xD. We'll see about the reference thing.

 **NiteyNite:** Yup, it's about time and I see you're in fanboy mode :P.

 **ZelgadisGW:** Hello, stranger :P. Yup, Kintaro seems popular, so… fanservice xD. Yup, Apollo being smart is just a glitch in the system. Don't expect it to happen again. Thanks :).

 **Leyknar:** Yeah, time sure flies… but what can you do…

 **Dayin:** Heh, people say that good things come to those who wait, so good for you, I guess :P. I also hope you'll like further chapters.

 **Guest:** thanks :).

 **Fssmonik:** So you are another Kanon fan. Damn, that some pressure on me :P. Thank you for your kind words :). Heh, portraying and understanding and over-analyzing characters is kinda my strong suit :). About the Keima thing… I'm not sure yet. And about Vulcan not telling Keima… I think doing it without his consent is less risky (works whether he'll agree or not) and also Vulcan might be angry about the goddesses being treated as parts of some bigger scheme, so she gets back at Keima that way or something like that :P. Whether Keima would be against the idea is unknown so far.

 **BlueBerry TeddyBear:** Umm… okay. I'm always glad to inspire other KamiNomi writers, so you're welcome :).

 **Normality Is Key:** Yay for more details towards the world building xD. Hm...I can totally see a scene where Chihiro ties Keima, so the orb can be used. Maybe I'll use it somewhere. P.S. Um, what do you mean "again"? I never said how I'm going to handle it and I'm not telling now :P.

 **Shawn Raven:** Yes, "it's that simple!" :P #wallealmostquote. Yes, Keima's gaming senses are tingling :P. Yes, Chihiro is okay with it. Wow… that must be the shortest of my replies to your reviews ever and it's "3x yes" too xD. Still, thank you for your review :).

 **One more thing. I couldn't decide which image out of the 3 I have is the best for this fanfiction icon, so I decided to test all of them. Up till now you've seen the first. Kanon has nice pose there, but the picture is not that clear, especially at this size. Now, I've swapped it for the second picture (it should be updated in half an hour tops), so tell me what you think about it.**

 **Okay, that's enough. Let's move onto the chapter!  
**

 **Enjoy!**

 **(* * *)**

Kanon woke up a few hours later to the sound of her alarm clock. As usual the sleep-deprived idol turned off the alarm and continued to sleep. And, as usual, the second alarm went off two minutes later. The pink-haired girl groaned and slowly got up before heading to her bathroom. She splashed her face with water, washed and brushed her teeth. Then she fixed herself a small and very quick didn't bother to do anything else – her staff would take care of everything. She just checked her face in the mirror to see if she had a particularly annoying case of bed hair today, but fortunately she didn't.

After that she checked on Kintarō then put on her coat and grabbed her bag before opening her door and walking out.

"Ittekimasu" the girl uttered, closing the door.

On the street, her manager, Okada, was already waiting in a taxi.

"Good morning, Okada-san," the idol greeted as she entered the cab.

"Good morning, Kanon," Okada greeted back, "how are you feeling today?"

"Good," Kanon replied. "Nothing out of the ordinary."

"Is anything ever ordinary ina life of an idol?" Okada mused to herself and Kanon laughed nervously.

Obviously, Kanon's life was anything but normal, but Okada didn't know even half of the truth. Somehow her manager remained blissfully ignorant of the more unusual happenings in Kanon's life, including the existence of Apollo, all the fighting with the evil devils and, most importantly, Kanon's absence when she was wounded and unconscious.

However, there were some things that Okada knew, even if only a little. For example, she remembered that Kanon had been acting weird during the time Keima had been conquering her, often leaving in the breaks between jobs or even seemingly disappearing. She also hadn't failed to notice the change that happened after the conquest had ended – that strange surge of confidence and energy that Kanon seemed to exhibit ever since.

Truth be told, Okada had been worried. Kanon was sixteen and it was perfectly possible for her to have some romantic encounters, especially since Okada was sure any male Japanese teenager that was single (and quite a lot of those who weren't) had a crush on Kanon to some extent. Of course, Kanon having a boyfriend would be a big problem and for some time it had seemed like it was actually happening, but the issue seemed to dissolve shortly after it started.

It hadn't been the end, however, as Kanon had once again started acting strange recently and the changes had been less than subtle. The idol had been absent minded sometimes and Okada had even noticed Kanon talking to herself in front of her mirror, though it hadn't been that weird, considering Kanon was just sixteen and crushed with so many expectation and responsibilities.

That hadn't been all though. Kanon had been kinda nervous and Okada had had the feeling it hadn't been just because of the midterm exams. It had gotten even stranger after that. For roughly a week Kanon had been acting beyond strange – she had complained more, performed worse, seemed much less intelligent during shows and even had gotten a fixation with firetrucks for some reason. And then all of that had ended as quickly as it had appeared.

And then there had been rumors. Of course, it was common for a number of magazines to look into the personal lives of celebrities or to try to dig up dirt on them. This time, it had been much worse, however, as the sheer number of rumors regarding Kanon and her supposed "lover" had been incredible.

Of course, thanks to New Hell's cleanup, Okada (and almost everyone else, for that matter) didn't know the real identity of Kanon's lover and the manager remained pretty much unaware of Keima's existence.

Still, even without Keima's name appearing anywhere,the rumors were still flooding the Internet, being the topics of everyday conversations, especially in high schools, and they also appeared during interviews where Kanon denied having a boyfriend to Okada's relief.

Not that Okada was fooled – Kanon might not have a secret boyfriend, but there was certainly something that the young idol wasn't telling her. Moreover, all that strange behavior – like tripping when singing about kissing and the rumors about a lover – had to come from somewhere and Okada was ready to bet her salary that Kanon had been in a relationship along the way or, at the very least, someone had stolen her heart.

Finally, there had been this one… incident, when someone had pulled a bomb call prank, disturbing an important several-hour recording! To top it off, Kanon had had used this and had left for over an hour and Okada started to suspect that Kanon herself had made the call, prompting the manager to have an important talk with the idol.

The result of the talk was a partial success. On one hand, Okada didn't manage to get any real info out of Kanon, aside from the fact that Kanon was rather determined to hide everything, strengthening Okada's suspicion that it was about some boy.

However, that didn't explain everything, so Okada also considered that Kanon was simply overworked and the strange behavior was result of stress. Thus, the manger had discreetly done some rescheduling, giving Kanon more time for breaks and sleep.

Finally, the strange happenings, bomb call included, had prompted Okada to personally pick and drop Kanon everyday, hence the reason why she was waiting in the taxi today.

Okada then proceeded to remind Kanon of the day's schedule, listing all the important events.

"I know I told you about this before, but all of those are happening either in Maijima or Narusawa… however," Okada pushed up her glasses, "now that your midterm tests are over we're going to do some traveling."

"I remember" Kanon said simply.

"This trip will also include a concert in Tōkyō," Okada continued, glancing at Kanon, "debuting your song 'Santa who has Fallen in Love'..."

Kanon nodded.

"...that will happen during Christmas."

"I know," the idol replied, "and I already informed my parents."

"They didn't have any objections?"

"Well, it'd be the first time I spend Christmas without them, but I'll manage and they've agreed," was Kanon's answer.

It was a little bit sad that she'll have to spend Christmas outside of Maijima, but Christmas was the perfect opportunity to spread her songs and love to thousand and thousands of her fans.

Kanon's attention was diverted for a moment, when the taxi driver turned up his radio and Kanon immediately recognized her own voice.

"Born in spring, I let this one-side love grow… It looks like something I know…"

It was one of the songs she had performed in a duet with another singer. Kanon had helped compose the lyrics, but at that time she hadn't known how true they would become.

One-sided live born in spring… and the feeling of suddenly starting to remember it… this sounded oddly similar to what had actually happened in Kanon's life, ever since she had met Keima. She let out an inaudible sigh.

"We're here," Okada said and sure enough, the car stopped, "It's time for work."

Kanon nodded and flipped her internal switch to "on", before walking out of the car with a smile, ready for another day in an idol's life.

(* * *)

The day was busy as usual as there were many events Kanon had to attend and next to none had her actually sing. The only singing and dancing performance she had today was during some charity party for a children's hospital. Besides that, there was mostly signing stuff, meet and greets(and those took a looong time) and interviews as she traveled between venues and then there was gravure for a magazine.

It was already well past noon when Kanon – wearing a dark skirt and matching tights, as well as pink sweater with a picture of two pears sewn right in the middle of it with a "pair" inscription underneath it and with her trademark yellow ribbon in her hair – got a calm hour to herself. Okada led her to what she used to call "relaxation room". There were TVs, gaming consoles and all other sorts of pastimes here, completed with a lunch waiting on her on the table.

Kanon felt her stomach rumble fiercely. She was a bit famished. She didn't eat anything after coming back home yesterday and today she only got small breakfast and some sugar-rich snack to keep her energized.

She quickly sat by the table, put on her earpieces, put on some music clapped her hands together.

"Itadakimasu!" she chanted, before she started to eat.

She was done with her large portion in record time.

She was just browsing through a magazine while nibbling on some fruit, when there was a voice all of a sudden.

"Kanon!"

The said idol didn't even budge – the music in her earpieces being quite loud. She looked at her phone to change the song… and almost fell out of the chair when she saw Apollo's face on her screen.

"Apollo! Don't scare me like that!" Kanon scolded the goddess in a hushed voice as she looked around."And I told you to not show yourself when I'm at work!"

"It's alright!" Apollo said cheerfully, thought it sounded out of place for some reason. "Besides, you're not working, but having a break, right?"

Kanon sighed and watched as the goddess' reflection disappeared from her cell phone and relocated to the nearby mirror.

"So," Kanon said after a moment, "why did you come out?"

"Why do you think?" Apollo asked back. "You got into this world, so what's the next step?"

"Huh? What are you talking about?" Kanon looked confused.

"Umm… heellooo!" Apollo drawled in a loud voice, making Kanon hush her. "Did you hit your head today or something?" the goddess inquired. "Vul-nee. Orb. Katsuragi. Game. Conquest. Remember?"

Kanon remained silent for a second or two. And then it hit her.

"Aaah!" she cried out, holding her head in her hand with a shocked expression on her face. "I completely forgot about that!"

"Seriously?" Apollo asked, clearly not amused. "How can you forget a thing like that?"

"I guess, I'm kinda in an auto-pilot mode when I wake up on most days," Kanon rubbed the back of her head.

"Yeah," Apollo agreed, "and when you get to after that" the goddess indicated to the left with both of her hands, "and after that", she indicated to the right before bringing her hands above her head, "seriously, you're on auto-pilot like half-the time when you're not on stage!"

Kanon smiled sheepishly. It was a little bad, but without that she wouldn't be able to cope with all the work.

"You make me sound like a zombie" the idol accused.

"No, your fans are zombies! Seriously, I can totally see them worshiping you like a bunch of mindless puppets" to help imagine it, Apollo put her hands in front of her and went blank-eyed.

"Kaaaanoon… Kaaaanoon…" she chanted, doing a good-enough impersonation of mindless zombie.

"Hey, don't make fun of my fans like that!" Kanon objected.

"Anyway, let's go back to the topic at hand!" Apollo suggested, sensing Kanon's anger. "So what are you going about Katsuragi now?" the goddess grinned. "How about you organize a concert in Maijima and 'accidentally' bump into Katsuragi, then drag him 'behind the scenes' with just the two of you and…"

"Apollo!" Kanon berated the goddess before she could say anymore. "That would be unprofessional, not to mention useless. Frontal attack are no good, at least for now."

"Hmm… so what's the plan then?"

"For now I think it'll be best to wait," Kanon replied.

"Wait?" Apollo repeated, confused. "Isn't that what we've been doing till now? Waiting. You have waited as you looked at your precious Keima-kun from afar, you waited while you were wounded. We've waited enough. Now's the time to act!"

"No," Kanon said simply.

Apollo just looked at the idol blanky.

"Okay, I'm dumbstruck!" Apollo said. "Could you explain it?" Kanon nodded. "Good. Then do it and make your explanation as simple as possible."

"Honestly, at the moment I think nothing I could do would have any positive effect on Keima-kun," Kanon admitted. "It's better to let him be for now. Besides,winter is not the best of seasons for things like that."

"Hold on," Apollo said, "you want to wait till the end of winter?"

Kanon shook her head.

"More like till the end of spring."

"What?!" Apollo all but shouted, making Kanon put her hands to the mirror, trying to quiet the goddess. "You can't wait that long!"

"But I have my idol job to do," Kanon reasoned, "I need time to organize stuff and I won't have to worry about school during summer break."

"I've got a better idea," Apollo said, ignoring Kanon's look of disbelief, "how about you quit being an idol?"

"That's absolutely out of the question!" Kanon objected firmly, her expression hardening in determination. "Being an idol is my passion and dream. It's my life!"

"At the cost of your love life?" Apollo made a point. "Look, this point of this entire thing is to not have any regrets, right? So let's go for Katsuragi now! You can be an idol all you want after this game is over!"

Kanon shook her head.

"I'm sorry if this'll make you angry, but I won't do that. Orb or not, I'm still me," Kanon put her hands over her heart for emphasis and smiled. "My beliefs, my skills… Everything that makes me… me is still here" she looked up at Apollo. "If I quit my job and dream now I would regret it and I wouldn't be able to forgive myself," she paused for a moment. "And I think Keima-kun would disapprove of a… heroine forsaking her world view like that."

"Thus, I'm going to chase both after my career and my love. I'll win both or die trying… and don't even start talking about Chihiro-san," Kanon said before Apollo could open her mouth. "I know that waiting is a bit risky… but I can't afford anything right now..."

Apollo was quiet for a moment.

"Fiiine," she said finally, hands crossed over her chest and looking away, "have it your way. I guess that means all I can do in the meantime as a medium is pray for your luck… goddesses know you'll need every bit of it."

"Thank you very much for your support, Apollo-sama!" Kanon pressed her hands together and bowed.

"Yeah, yeah" Apollo waved, clearly embarrassed. "Just don't blame me when I say 'I told you so'."

Kanon smiled. "Got that… now let's end this conversation before Okada-san finds out."

(* * *)

And so Kanon, true to her belief and resolution, had continued her work during the next weeks and a large portion of it had been spent traveling. She had ended up performing in Tōkyō on Christmas. If there had been any popularity drop remaining from when Elsie had been substituting for Kanon, then that Christmas concert had brought Kanon's popularity back with interest.

In short, by the standards of the life Kanon had had several months earlier, everything had been going well. As well as any nationwide idol could hope for.

However, as determined to follow her plan as she was, Kanon wasn't impervious to doubts and swings of mood.

She missed Keima.

After Kanon's conquest and before she had been stabbed it was different. Yes, she had had feelings for him back then, but she had thought he had forgotten about her. Moreover, she hadn't approached him, convinced that they had to go separate ways.

But now it was not like that.

Kanon knew that her final goal was to get together with Keima. The path to that goal wasn't easy and in order to reach it she had decided to take a detour. She hadn't lost the sight of her goal and her resolution hadn't wavered.

It didn't mean that being away from him, unable to so much as see him, was easy though… especially while being in a world made for the purpose of the two of them being together.

And it wasn't just Keima Kanon had been missing.

She didn't have many friends here while she continued her days of work as an idol. Of course, there was Okada-san and she and Kanon were rather close, but in the end, Okada was her manager and supervisor and she was older. The rest of the staff were all friendly to her and appreciated her talent and hard work, but they were not her buddies or friends, but co-workers that were supposed to support her, forcing them to stay professional. Kind, but professional.

Aside from that, Kanon knew some other girls working in show business, but not many were her age or younger. For the other idols that Kanon did know, she mostly saw them singing and dancing on TV. Many were actually her rivals and even those who were friendly were never someone Kanon would consider close friends.

Kanon's parents contacted her from time to time and Kanon greatly appreciated that. Alas, it couldn't be a substitute for face-to-face meeting.

Then there were fans. Thousands of them. Kanon appreciated all of them and the fans did make Kanon happy and fulfilled to some extent, but, once again, they weren't people Kanon could meet regularly (even the most hardcore fans whom she'd meet several times), let alone talk to them privately.

Thus, one could say that Kanon was feeling a bit lonely as of late.

To think a person, loved by such masses of people, to the point of being able to rally up a crowd and be the center and purpose of it, could feel lonely.

Strange, ne?

That's why she hadn't had any friends at school the first time she had met Keima.

But now she had more people she knew personally and could consider her friends.

First, there were Keima and Elsie. The former was her love interest and the latter was her hardcore fan and had helped her a lot. Kanon hadn't interacted with them all that much, but they were still precious people to her and she would love to meet with them more often.

Then there were her classmates from 2-B class, the members of 2-B pencils and the other girls that were host of goddesses. The most important from those were probably Chihiro and Ayumi, then Yui, Tsukiyo, Shiori and Tenri and then Miyako.

And in contrast to most of her classmates, Kanon actually liked school and missed most of the teachers, including Nikaidō-sensei.

And then there were other people, mostly girls, Kanon had recently met – they the girls Keima had conquered, those strange devil girls as well as the old man Shiratori.

Kanon considered all of them important to her.

Yet, she spend a lot of her time outside of Maijima and as weeks passed by she sometimes couldn't help but feel tired and longing to spend more time with her friends.

Especially Keima.

Of course, the fact that Kanon hadn't been able to meet Keima didn't mean she was slacking. Quite the opposite – every second when she wasn't working, sleeping or resting she dedicated to figuring out her plan of action.

It wasn't easy. Right now, she understood Keima's opinion of her a little better, and she knew it wasn't the best of opinions... rightfully so, considering how she had treated shouldn't have been so self-centered. She shouldn't have attacked him with her stun guns. She should have offered to buy him two PFPs before she had started pestering him with requests.

On the other hand, Keima had taken it really hard when she had been stabbed. He had been very concerned, proving he cared for her to some extent, which was comforting.

Still, Kanon was not stupid enough to think that Keima liked her back at the moment. She had taken great care to not let her feelings cloud her reasoning. Keima could be her Prince Charming, but he wasn't one now, so she shouldn't think of him as one.

Yes, Kanon was wearing glasses and yes, she was 'pink' thanks to her hair, but she didn't need rose-tainted glasses, thank you very much…

So far the results of her planning and research had been less than stellar.

Obviously, Kanon couldn't just avoid interacting with Keima forever. She was all too aware that him and Chihiro were still classmates and not completely indifferent to each other. Kanon needed to start actually doing something at some point. And to this end she was working more than necessary now in order to have more free time during spring.

Maybe she will even go on a vacation…

Kanon took her steaming cup of coffee and sighed as it made her think of Keima again.

Oh goddesses… she couldn't wait to see him again.

She was supposed to be on airplane right now, but it was delayed thanks to a nasty blizzard, so Kanon miraculously had some free time on her hands right now and the same was true for her staff. Even Okada had nothing to do at this time now, so she'd decided to rest. Goddesses knew she needed it.

Kanon sat down, put on her inseparable earpieces, turned on the music and took a folder out of her bag, intending to finally do the thing that she was supposed to have done a week ago.

The folder contained a script for the next season of the teen drama series Kanon was starring in, completed with changes by the director written on small yellow sticky post-its.

Kanon wasn't really that talented when it came to acting (especially compared to Keima) and didn't do it that often, so getting into a character required a lot of effort from her. Of course, being a famous idol, her recognizable face and fan base were more important for the movie makers than her acting skills. Still, Kanon tried to at least understand what her character was about and what plot she was surrounded with.

When she had been stabbed, Elsie had substituted for her and starred in a fantasy/sci-fi drama involving time travel (how ironic, Kanon thought), but this script was for an older TV series. It wasn't bad or anything, but it was nothing great at the time. The director possibly sensed the upcoming rise in Kanon's popularity (the drama's first season aired before Kanon got her newcomer idol award)and casted her as the main female character, hoping that the series would become popular.

And he was right – what started as one of the smaller dramas that didn't get that much attention and was predicted to be all but forgotten soon, quickly turned into a popular topic once Kanon become well-known in the show business industry.

Kanon opened the folder, expecting to see big changes from the previous season and she was quickly proved correct. The first difference was the cast that the director saw fit to include with the script. Before the show had third-class actors or amateurs like Kanon, but now there were more professionals.

As before, the story was set in the modern world and had many characters and several plot threads, resulting in a mix between a melodrama, some adventure and good deal of romance with a bit of paranormal events to boot.

Also as before, Kanon was the main protagonist with some connection to magic, which was the in-story reason for her bubble gum-colored hair, but was next to unaware of it and struggling with regular teenage life.

The rest of the original cast for the main characters remained in place as well... except for one. The main male protagonist (well, more like deuteragonist at best) was still there, but the beginning of the script quickly made it obvious that the character would disappear.

Argument with the protagonist. An accident that foreshadows more drama and danger. And the desire of the director to replace amateurs with professional actors. Kanon understood all that and thus she was not surprised when she saw that the main male character was now a guy she actually recognized from TV. Come to think of it, she vaguely remembered being invited and interviewed on the same show as him.

And the boy's name was Daisuke Nishihara.

Daisuke was a pretty common male given name, but Nishihara? Why of all the family names out there, it had to be the one Kanon was bitter about – she remembered all too well that one time someone had gotten her name wrong and wrote her name down as 'Kanon Nishihara'. This brought back memories of her earlier life when she would often get unnoticed or mistaken for someone else.

In short, she wasn't too happy about that boy being in the cast. It's not like she was afraid he would steal the show. Even if he did she wouldn't care all that much. It was still troublesome and as she continued to read the script her suspicions were confirmed.

Nishihara's character was in the main cast for rather obvious reason – he was supposed to serve as Kanon's character love interest. Kanon followed the script, looking for further developments. There were signs of the guy having connection to that one organization that had its sights on the protagonists, so maybe the guy would turn out to be a villain or something would happen to him.

Kanon continued to read for the next twenty minutes. The script was far from perfect in her eyes. There were some things Kanon would like to change, but it was manageable. She'll just play her part because it was her job.

At least that was what she had thought, until she reached past half of the script.

She stopped and narrowed her eyes, trying to focus. It was normal for her to confuse or not understand things sometimes when she was tired, so she read it again. And again. Then read the post-its left by the director about that particular scene and read them again.

She was seeing it right.

She stood up and went to find didn't want to interrupt her manager's resting time, but she had to.

(* * *)

"Okay," Okada said after she carefully read the part in the script Kanon was pointing at, "What's the problem then?"

Kanon waited a moment, trying to explain things calmly.

"This episode," she started, "has a kissing scene in it."

Okada also was quiet for a second.

"I still don't see a problem," the manager skimmed through the text, "something like that has happened before, hasn't it? In the previous season of that drama."

"Yes," Kanon admitted, "but that was a fake shot, filmed from behind. No real kissing. Now," she turned several pages to the earlier part of the script, "there is one 'fake' in the initial episodes as well with my character's old 'boyfriend', but," she got back to the troublesome part of the script again and showed Okada one particular post-it, "the director wants this kiss to be real."

"Alright, now I see your point," Okada furrowed her brow, "but I don't understand why it's the problem."

"Well, how about it being my first kiss?" Kanon knew she was lying, but mentioning Keima was out of the question, even if she were to omit all the paranormal stuff.

"I know that, Kanon," Okada replied, fixing her glasses, "it's just that I think there was a contract about this drama series and you agreed to the possibility of this."

Kanon bit her lip. Okada was right. Back then Kanon thought it was part of her job that would eventually happen, the fear of being unrecognized, ignored or forgotten stronger than any considerations of her future love life.

But now it was different. She didn't want to kiss other men!

And what would Keima-kun think if she saw her kissing someone on TV. He might not watch TV, but Eri was following everything Kanon was in for sure!

"Okada-san," Kanon started, "I know that this is a selfish request, but I'd like you to talk to the director and mak-try making him change his mind about this.

Okada was silent for a moment, her eyes piercing Kanon, watching her carefully. Now Kanon fully understood why Eri thought that Okada's personality was similar to Keima's.

It's nothing more than a woman's intuition, Okada thought to herself, but I don't think that would be Kanon's first kiss.

"Alright then," she said out loud, "I'll see what I can do."

"Thank you very much, Okada-san," Kanon said, putting her hands together in relief.

"You'll thank me once I talk the director out of it," Okada replied, but she smiled, moving to exit the room,

Then Kanon remembered something.

"Aah… there's one more thing," she said, making Okada stop. "My birthday is coming up."

"Yes? What about it?"

"I know I have to perform for the fans," Kanon fiddled with her fingers, "and I know I have my exams… but could I get a few days off after the exams are over? I would like to celebrate both my birthday and the exams with my family… and friends."

Okada's look softened. "Of course," she said. It's not like Kanon didn't have any friends, but the sharp manager sensed there was something different about it this time. She also didn't miss the glint in Kanon's eye and the happy smile that followed.

The truth was that Kanon was planning to use her upcoming birthday to spend some time with people she knew. Eri, 2-B pencils, maybe some other girls and most importantly Keima, the thought of meeting him making her forget about the entire drama script kissing issue.

She couldn't wait to see him again!

(* * *)

Kanon's happy mood didn't last all that long, because in the second half of the February the drama shooting started. The beginning wasn't bad as it was mostly the same as the last season, except the budget was much bigger which brought changes to the costumes and filming locations.

The problem started when it turned out that Okada's efforts were in vain and the director refused to change his mind, so Kanon had to intervene personally.

"I don't understand," the director said after hearing Kanon's request, "we had a contract and you agreed to it, Kanon-chan. What made you change your mind?"

Falling in love with a nerdy classmate, near-death experience, heavenly intervention and world-saving, Kanon thought, but she didn't say any of it out loud of course.

"It's private…" she replied instead.

"I didn't think you had a boyfriend," the director noticed.

"I don't have one," Kanon said, trying to be calm and polite.

"Then is it about Daisuke-kun?" the director inquired further. "You don't like him?"

Kanon bit her lip. She had met Daisuke Nishihara some days ago. On one hand he didn't seem like a bad person. Yes, he was flamboyant and a little haughty, but that was nothing Kanon couldn't handle. However, he was certainly not her type and she refused to kiss him for real.

It was like she would be betraying Keima-kun!

The director waited for a moment and when Kanon didn't answer, her rubbed his brow.

"Look, I understand that it's not exactly how you envisioned it and there's a lot of pressure, but I got this much funding because of the script, so any changes now are…"

He said no more. It was obvious Kanon herself was another reason for the funding and the director didn't want to change the script or made Kanon resign from her role. Then again, if she resigned then she'd have to face the financial penalty and backlash from her fans.

"I'll think about it," Kanon promised, before walking away.

Her mood didn't improve by the end of the day when Kanon plopped down on the bed in her trailer she got to live in since the shooting took several days in a row, as they were shooting for more than one episode.

Kanon groaned, realizing she had no much choice in the matter. Even worse, the final exams were upon them and Kanon needed to study really hard this time, because she had done less than stellar on her last exams because she had been stabbed.

If this goes on even Eri would do better than her on the exams. She chuckled at the idea before her eyes widened as an idea struck her. She reached for her cell phone and chose one particular position from her short contact list. It was rude to call at such a late hour, but Kanon was desperate.

After two signals the other side picked up.

"Um… moshi moshi," the sleepy voice of Eri Katsuragi answered.

Kanon immediately felt guilty, but shrugged the feeling for now. There was a lot of ways she could pay Eri back later on.

"It's Kanon," the idol said and Eri immediately livened up.

"Kanon-chan!" she said excitedly. "Is it about the party? I think you'll need to contact Urara-san for that…"

"No, it's not about the party," Kanon kept the phone close to her ear and covered it with her hands to reduce any risk of someone eavesdropping.

"What is it then?" Eri asked curiously.

Kanon hesitated for a moment.

"I have a favor to ask."

 **(* * *)**

 **So there's that. Some time skips, Kanon not being in a hurry (at least for now), some insight into her thinking process (as usual with my fics) and... a new season for a drama where Kanon has to kiss a boy for real! A boy not named Keima Katsuragi!**

 **How is Kanon going to get out of this smoochy predicament? And what is the favor she asked of Eri?  
**

 **Come to think of it, that's already the second time Kanon asked Eri for a favor: one time in-orb and one time outside of it (in the prologue)... and I didn't notice it until someone told me about it. I even used almost the same line both times! That's what you get when you write chapters with 3 weeks in between them...**

 **Anyway, I think Kanon will continue to "use" Eri from time to time... but I wonder if everything will go according to Kanon's plan... and what that plan is in the first place?**

 **Also, there's not much Keima in this chapter (wow, that's and understatement) and I want to apologize for that. I hope he will appear personally in the next chapter. After all, the popularity will drop if the protagonist/lead male character won't appear, right? :)**

 **Moving on, I realized I suck at clothes description. I just can't imagine what a fashionable girl could wear and how to describe it, let alone in English. The credit for the clothes Kanon wears in this chapter (except for the pink sweater) goes to Sir Sleeps-a-lot and I want to thank her for that! *hands over a cookie* :)**

 **Staying on the topic of clothes, I would be really grateful if you left some suggestion for description of clothes Kanon could wear in your reviews or over PMs. I guess from now on I'll be needing clothes for spring and stage performance and also casual indoor clothing.**

 **Also this chapter references two songs of Kanon's. One is lyrics from "Pink Deco motion" (though it's not that hard to find where it is referenced) and the other is referenced directly by title and it's pretty obvious as well...**

 **Curiously, this chapter references one of Chihiro's song as well :P.**

 **Apollo is also in a reference mode. She references her own... gesture set, which even got its own meme. She also references "The Mummy" (1999).**

 **As usual I kindly ask you to fav/follow the story and drop me a review. Constructive criticism is welcome!**

 **See you next time!**

 **Omake**

 **Now's time for a little surprise. Finally, after a very long break, here's another KamiNomi pokemake, this time describing Nanaka's conquest (curiously it has the same number of lines as Sumire's pokemake). I think it came nice enough. Just don't expect another pokemake for the next several chapters :P. Enjoy.**

 **The summer break is over! The second term begins!**

 **Keima used Happy Hour. Keima is free to play games at school!**

 **Elsie appears! Elsie used Helping Hand. Elsie asks Keima to join Chihiro's band!**

 **Keima flinched! Keima tried to get away safely. Elsie used Hagoromo Bind. Keima is unable to escape!**

 **Keima used Screech. Elsie used Pleading. Keima used Rage. Keima's attack rose! Keima ignored orders! Keima turned away!**

 **Doro! Doro! Doro!**

 **Huh? Keima and Elsie are confused! They looked around in their confusion!**

 **? ? ? used Echoed Voice. ? ? ? said "keima". Hit 3 times! Keima and Elsie are confused!**

 **Wild shōgi player conquest target Nanaka appears!**

 **Nanaka used Detect. Nanaka is searching for keima. Keima and Elsie are confused!**

 **Elsie points to Keima. Nanaka is confused! Nanaka got angry in her confusion!**

 **Enemy shōgi club players appear! Enemy shōgi club players want to fight! Enemy shōgi club players sent out the club chief Tazaka!**

 **Nanaka used Scratch. Nanaka used Checkmate. One-hit KO! Club chief Tazaka fainted! (literally)**

 **Keima used Thief. Keima obtained Nanaka's keima piece!**

 **(* * *)**

 **Keima and Elsie arrived at Café Grandpa.**

 **Wild goddess host Tenri appears!**

 **Tenri used Minimize. Tenri shrinks behind café sign.**

 **Keima used Echoed Voice. Tenri flinched! Tenri's defense sharply fell!**

 **Wild Nanaka appears again!**

 **Wild Nanaka wants to fight!**

 **Nanaka used Chatter. Nanaka used Exposition. Nanaka is confused! Nanaka got frustrated in her confusion!**

 **Jupiter Sister Diana appears! Diana used Exposition.**

 **Tenri used Apologize... but it failed because Keima used Block and stopped Tenri in her tracks.**

 **Galge player buddy Keima is now known as shōgi student Keima.**

 **Shōgi student Keima wants to fight!**

 **Nanaka used Rage. Nanaka's attack rose!**

 **Keima used Nanaka's keima piece. Nanaka's defense fell!**

 **Keima used Bestow. Nanaka got back her keima piece!**

 **Nanaka wants to fight! Keima used (Glasses) Flash. Keima's confidence rose!**

 **Tenri and Elsie got away safely!**

 **(* * *)**

 **Keima and Nanaka continue to play...**

 **Nanaka used Chatter. It's super effective! Keima used Tearful Look. Keima is moved by Nanaka's story! Nanaka's defense fell!**

 **Keima and Nanaka continue to play...**

 **Keima used Checkmate. Critical hit! Nanaka fainted! Nanaka's defense sharply fell! Nanaka used Cry! Nanaka is crying!**

 **Keima got away safely!**

 **(* * *)**

 **Tenri and Elsie appear again!**

 **Keima used Request. Keima wants to fight Tenri!**

 **Diana appears! Diana used Substitute. Diana will fight instead of Tenri!**

 **Bing! Bong! Nanaka appears!**

 **Elsie used Happy Hour. Elsie used Blabber. Elsie blabbed about kissing to Diana! Critical hit! Diana flinched!**

 **Diana used Glare. Diana used Encore. Elsie is forced to repeat herself.**

 **Diana used Mega Punch. Critical hit! Keima fainted!**

 **Diana used Rage. Diana's attack rose! Keima used Protect. Keima explained himself! Nanaka is confused!**

 **Diana used It Was My First Kiss. Diana's defense fell!**

 **Diana wants to fight! Diana used Taunt!**

 **Keima used Glare. Keima wants to fight!**

 **Keima used Calm Mind. Keima used Spotlight. Keima used Flash. Keima's special attack and special defense rose!**

 **Diana used Foresight. Diana used Nasty Plot. Diana used Dragon Rage.**

 **Keima used Counter. Keima used Guardian Bishop. Diana flinched!**

 **Diana used Shōgi Move Barrage. Hit 3 times! Keima is pushed back! Keima's defense fell! Diana used Glare.**

 **Diana used Judgement. Diana used Checkmate. It's super effective! Critical hit! Keima fainted!**

 **Diana got away safely.**

 **Nanaka's defense fell! Nanaka used Psych Up. Nanaka's defense rose!**

 **Keima used Cry. Keima used Helping Hand. Keima is now helping Nanaka!**

 **(* * *)**

 **Keima wants to fight! Keima wins! Nanaka gets 1000 experience points! Nanaka's defense sharply fell!**

 **Keima wants to fight! Keima wins! Nanaka gets 1000 experience points! Nanaka's defense sharply fell!**

 **(* * *)**

 **Elsie used Transform. Elsie looks like Tenri! Nanaka used Psych Up. Nanaka used Rage. Nanaka's attack rose!**

 **(* * *)**

 **Keima wants to fight! Keima wins! Nanaka gets 1000 experience points! Nanaka's defense fell!**

 **(* * *)**

 **Keima wants to fight! Keima wins! Nanaka gets 1000 experience points!**

 **Keima and Nanaka didn't sleep for 3 days! Keima's and Nanaka's sanity greatly fell!**

 **(* * *)**

 **Keima wants to fight! Keima wins! Nanaka gets 1000 experience points!**

 **Keima and Nanaka didn't sleep for 4 days! Keima's and Nanaka's sanity won't go any lower!**

 **Nanaka used Shōgi Move... but it failed! Nanaka fell asleep!**

 **Keima used Blanket. Keima covered Nanaka.**

 **Keima used Play Galge... but it failed! Keima fell asleep!**

 **Nanaka and Keima are fast asleep.**

 **Elsie used Admiration.**

 **(* * *)**

 **Keima wants to fight! Nanaka wins! Nanaka gets 500 experience points! Keima is confused! Nanaka's defense greatly rose!**

 **Nanaka used Chatter. Nanaka used Pac-Man reference. Keima is confused!**

 **Nanaka used Flirt. Nanaka used Night Shade. Keima and Nanaka continue to train during the all-nighters!**

 **(* * *)**

 **Tenri appears!**

 **Exhausted Keima appears! Tenri flinched!**

 **Keima used Chatter. Keima used Nasty Plot.**

 **Keima used Question. Tenri flinched!**

 **Keima and Tenri used Chatter. Keima wonders about the gaps. Tenri used Chatter.**

 **Nanaka used Sleep Talk.**

 **(* * *)**

 **Nanaka wants to fight!**

 **Diana used Shōgi Move. It's super effective! Diana is dominating!**

 **Diana used Shōgi Move. It's super effective! Nanaka's defense fell!**

 **Keima used Cheer Up.**

 **Diana used Shōgi Move. It's super effective! Nanaka's king is in a tight spot! Nanaka's defense fell!**

 **Nanaka used Counter. Nanaka used Double Hit. Nanaka's both attacking and defending! It's not very effective...**

 **Diana used Shōgi Move. It's super effective!**

 **Nanaka's used Hold Hands. Nanaka's holding Keima's hand! Diana's concentration fell!**

 **Keima used Shout. Keima used Cheer Up. Nanaka's is confused! She blushed in her confusion! Nanaka's love points rose! Nanaka's attack and defense greatly rose!**

 **Diana used Irritation. Nanaka used Check. It's super effective! Diana flinched!**

 **Nanaka used Checkmate. Nanaka wins!**

 **Nanaka used Victory Dance. Nanaka used Wrap. Nanaka held onto Keima! Nanaka used Celebration Rollout.**

 **(* * *)**

 **Nanaka used Happy Hour. Nanaka used Ginger Ale. Nanaka seemingly got drunk!**

 **Nanaka used Three Keimas. Nanaka blushed! Nanaka is confused!**

 **Nanaka used Lunge Kiss.**

 **The loose soul appears! Elsie used Imprison. Loose soul in custody!**


	3. Flag 66: 11 girls, an idol and love call

**Hello, everyone!**

 **Here's the newest chapter of KanonNomi. Sorry for such a delay, but things happened...**

 **Before moving on, I once again changed the icon for the story (though I don't know if you can already see it). Please tell me what do you think of it and which of the 3 icons was the best.**

 **Okay, with that out of the way, I want to make the author's notes short, so thank you all very much for the support for the last chapter. Here are replies to the latest reviews:**

 **Sir Sleeps-a-lot: Y** eah, Kanon has a lot of disadvantage here… Truth be told, I didn't think about the "message daily" thing. Love the train metaphor xD. Can't promise the Nishihara plot will be interesting though… No, I don't know how Pink Deco Motion actually sounds… You're right about the "It's all right", though, a funny thing is that there are two manga chapters, one title "It's all right" and the other titled "It's alright" and one is originally in Japanese, but the other is in English. Yay for Nanaka omake! :)

 **Leyknar:** Yeah, it's going to be hard and yeah, let's see ;).

 **Shawn Raven:** Thank you very much for the detailed review :). Yeah, there are risk involved with Chihiro. I wonder about the thing with Eri as well :P. The zombie joke was actually a reference to the Mummy movie, but yeah. We'll see about Okada and Kanon's parents.

 **ZelgadisGW:** Well, with Keima not being particularly keen to get a real girlfriend, waiting is one of the few viable opening strategies… Yeah, I had to do quite some reading for the omake :P.

 **Firefoxmonik:** Good advice: focus, Kanon, focus! xD Elsie/Eri will save the day? I wonder about that :P. I don't know if my brain is spicy, but I tend to think too much, so it might be stodgy food :P.

 **NiteyNite:** Thanks :). And laughing at the "KamiNomi Z" bit. DBZ much? ;)

 **Ghost Man:** Lol, laughing at the d20 roll thing. Apollo rolled 20. Critical hit! Apollo says something smart for a change! xD. Interesting question about the "fail" scenario. Let's hope that won't happen. Kanon recommending Keima for the role seems nice at first, but people don't know he's her biggest fan (and he probably isn't really) and Keima wouldn't agree to it – half the male population of Japan would try to murder him, especially with his names in the open in the credits xD. I agree that Keima can act though. The clothes thing… it's less of an issue how it looks like and more of an issue how each piece of clothes is called, because I suck at it.

 **I think that's enough. On with the chapter!**

 **Enjoy!**

 **(* * *)**

"You've got to be kidding me," Keima Katsuragi exclaimed the instant he looked on the sheet of paper his sister Eri handed him.

"Huh?" the girl in question titled her head, "what do you mean, nii-sama?"

The siblings were on their way to school and had just passed the gate of Maijima Private High School.

"I mean this," Keima showed her the sheet, which had eleven names written on it in various handwritings, "what is this?"

Eri furrowed her brow. "That is the list for the tutoring before the upcoming final exams you've promised to do," she explained as if it was obvious.

"I've promised to tutor you!" Keima reminded her.

"But when I asked if I could ask if anyone else wanted to join then you agreed," Eri defended, pouting.

"Anyone else?" Keima repeated, before looking at the sheet and reading out loud, "Eri, Ayumi, Chihiro, Yui, Kusunoki, Minami, Mio, Shiori, Tsukiyo, Urara and Kanon." he turned back to Eri. "That's eleven girls. ELEVEN!"

"So?" Eri asked, as if she really didn't understand the problem.

"So how did it end that way?" Keima asked. "I can understand you and Ayumi, cause you both need help studying. Minami and Kusunoki are understandable as well, as they're graduating. Urara is a perfectionist when it comes to exams-"

"Then you and her have something in common," Eri said quietly.

"-and a worrywart, so tutoring her is not a surprise either," Keima pretended he didn't hear her. "But the rest? Why does Chihiro needs tutoring? Did Kodama threaten to dissolve the Light Music club if she gets anything lower than 100% on any of her final exams?"

"I think she plans to attend the tutoring, do nothing else and get at least 60% without much effort," Eri commented, "And Yui-san kinda doesn't have a choice… her mother-"

"Yui's mother can get the best private tutors out there! It doesn't need to be me!I bet Yui plans to use this opportunity and try to seduce me again!" Keima shivered. "And there's still Shiori, Tsukiyo and Mio. Why do they need tutoring? And where do you plan to do it?" Keima looked at Eri, his eyes narrowing. "You're not going to invite them to our house?"

"Why not?" Eri asked.

"I'd rather live," Keima said and shivered again as he imagined his mother's reaction.

"Then we'll have to hold it in one of the classrooms. I'm sure Nikaidō-sensei will let us use one." Eri said in thought, "we could also split it into more than one tutoring session."

"Absolutely not!" Keima exclaimed. "This is annoying enough as it is and I've never agreed to it anyway," he patted the sheet of paper in his hands. "Seriously, name one girl from the school that I know who's not on this list!"

"Fujidera-san?" Eri tried.

"I've never talked to her," Keima reminded her.

"Umm…then Mobuko-san?"

"Who's that?"

"How about Miyako-san?"

Keima groaned. "Good thing Miyako goes to cram school and doesn't need-"

"What I don't need?" a voice asked, making Keima comically freeze in place with his mouth open.

Keima and Eri didn't notice that they were already in the corridor and close to their classroom. Close enough to run into the queen of interruptions, Miyako Terada herself.

"Miyako-san!" Eri greeted enthusiastically. "We were just talking about the tutoring session nii-sama is going to hold," the bubbly Katsuragi said, not sensing her brother glaring daggers at her.

"Hmm… Ayumi did get a hundred last time Katsuragi have been tutoring her," Miyako put her finger to her mouth, before exclaiming, "Okay. Count me in. When is that tutoring session happening?"

(* * *)

"It's not my fault, nii-sama!" Eri said when Miyako left.

"How is it not your fault!?" Keima hollered, before sighing in defeat. "Still, even Miyako is less unexpected than this," he pointed to one particular name, written just above Miyako's.

"You mean Kanon-chan?" Eri asked curiously, "doesn't she need the most help studying because she doesn't go to school?"

"But she said she wouldn't be able to attend the session because of her schedule, correct?" Keima queried.

"Well, yes, at first she said that," Eri admitted, "but Kanon-chan called me and wanted to be added to the list."

"What?" Keima seemed honestly surprised. "Impossible. That's the first time I've heard of it and you wouldn't be able to not babble about Kanon calling you."

"It's because it was late at night yesterday. She called when I was already asleep" Eri explained.

Keima was quiet for a moment.

"Kanon Nakagawa?" he said slowly and Eri nodded, "called you in the middle of the night?" another nod, "only to be added to the tutoring list?"

"Yeah…" Eri admitted, "I mean, she sounded desperate, but when I asked what the request was, Kanon-chan started answering and then went quiet for a moment before asking to be added for the tutoring," Eri scratched her cheek in confusion.

"Is that so?" Keima asked, pondering about it.

On one hand, Kanon stressing over the smallest of things was nothing new as the girl had enough of a yandere in her to call someone in the middle of the night over something relatively minor...

...on the other hand, Keima hadn't seen anything like that from Kanon in months and after her conquest, the girl have become much more independent and nice. The last outburst of hers was back when Fiore tried to assassinate her.

That reminded Keima – now that he knew that Fiore was indeed the one who stabbed Kanon, he needed to ask Haqua what became of the Vintage's mook, to ensure she got proper punishment.

Truth be told, Keima still wasn't over the fact that Kanon had gotten stabbed. It had been his fault.

Yes, he had managed to save her through his own skill.

Yes, that event had been an important catalyst that had sparked and then solidified his resolve, to commit to the search of the goddess.

Yes, it had been an event that had made him go through the week before the festival without as much as touching his PFP.

And yes, it seemed like everything was supposed to happen that way, because that what the future and past demanded. It was what the fate demanded.

And Keima was sick of that. He had been sick of this 'fate' thing ever since his travel to the past. Ever since that mess with Kaori and the Romeo and Juliet performance.

The time-traveling orb had been made to drag him and others into this shitty game, but Keima would have none of that. True, he had stopped deciding everything for everyone as if they were all game characters that he could control, but he was still sick of this entire situation.

He had made a lot of people cry. He had hurt a lot of people. He had put Kanon's life in jeopardy because he hadn't been attentive enough.

He wasn't going to make the same mistake again.

And Kanon calling Eri at night to ask for something that she could ask for in the morning just as well certainly made alarm bells sound off in his head. He was near certain Kanon had meant to ask for something else.

In short, something was bothering Kanon and Keima was keen on figuring out what it was.

Fortunately, he'll have the chance to do it today.

(* * *)

"I don't understand why you need another classroom for something like a tutoring session," Nikaidō remarked when Keima visited her in the staff room.

"Do I have any other way?" Keima questioned. "I need a blackboard to do this."

"Why not simply use 2-B classroom for that?" Nikaidō asked back. "It's available for everyone after school."

"Exactly," Keima replied, "and that's why it's not an option. I'm not risking anyone walking in on us."

"It shouldn't be a problem... unless you mean to do more than tutoring" Nikaidō said, shooting him a nasty look.

In response Keima gave her a look that seemed to say 'seriously?'

"I don't want any rumors about the otamega being in one room with a dozen girls, some of them pretty famous in this school. I care for for my own health. And for the girls' reputations, you know?"

"That's news to me," Nikaidō handed him the keys to one of the empty clubrooms, but held them when Keima tried to take them, making him look at her, "Just tell your classmates that this rote learning method of yours will not help them much on my tests."

"Got it," Keima took the keys, but he didn't move from his spot. Nikaidō raised her eyebrow. "Do you need anything else?"

"School is over for today," Keima noted, "how about you get out of here?Relax. Hang out with Jun or something."

Nikaidō looked wide-eyed for a moment.

"What?" she asked finally.

"I told you before: your life cannot be limited to saving the world and teaching. You need to live."

"Am I hearing this right?" Nikaidō's eyebrow was now twitching. "The nerd among the nerd is telling me to go out and enjoy life? And it's not 'you' and 'Jun'. It's 'Nikaidō-sensei' and 'Nagase-sensei' to you."

"No, Jun is not my teacher. Notyet anyway," Keima turned to walk away, "Speaking of Jun, when she starts working here, you can give her some of your work. I'm sure she'll help you out gladly."

And with that he was gone, leaving Nikaidō staring at where he had left.

(* * *)

Keima walked to the designated classroom and unlocked it, walking inside. Then he put down his materials on the teacher's desk. The materials were the results of his research on various teachers. After all, tutoring a dozen people from various classes for final exams was on a completely different level than tutoring four classmates for one test.

It was 4o'clock and Keima was just in a middle of writing down the basic points in a very small font in order to fit everything onto the blackboard when the door opened and a group of girls walked in.

First were the members of 2-B pencils: Eri, who had a motivational headband wrapped around her forehead, Chihiro Kosaka, who was happily chatting with Ayumi Takahara and Miyako Terada and Yui Goidō, who waved at Keima enthusiastically (Keima pretended not to notice). The light music club members took their seats when the next four girls arrived in two pairs.

The first pair was Shiori Shiomiya and Tsukiyo Kujō. Both girls were quiet, with Tsukiyo walking elegantly and proudly as if she didn't notice anyone around her, while Shiori looked rather uncertain and suggested they take seats away from the rest. The moon-lover didn't object.

The girls from the second pair were less similar: Urara Shiratori looked as if she was heading for battle, what with all the books, notebooks and pencils. Mio Aoyama, on the other hand, had but one small purse with her that could barely hold one notebook although Keima was certain it held nothing aside from a sandwich or two.

After that the subsequent people walked in alone. First was Kusunoki Kasuga, who as usual radiated an aura of discipline, confidence and strength. It was completely opposite to Minami Ikoma – the middle school girl found her way throughout the empty high school corridors, but just didn't seem to find the courage to enter a classroom full of senpais and stayed outside till Eri noticed her through the glass and dragged her inside with a cheerful smile on her lips.

Minami clearly was embarrassed by the commotion she had caused. But if she wanted some event that would make everyone forget about her then her prayers were heard as soon as the door opened for the sixth time and a certain pink-haired idol walked in.

"Kanon-chan!" Eri was obviously the first to react and half the girls left their seats to stand next to the idol.

Kanon tried to greet everyone, shake hands, sign pieces of paper and answer all the questions when there suddenly was a sound of a chalk being tapped against the desk in an irritated and impatient manner.

"Are you done now?" Keima asked, his voice calm as usual, but his eyes were sharp.

"No, we're not," Chihiro replied as she hold her bag for Kanon to sign. The idol hesitated. It was her first meeting with Keima in a long time and the last thing she wanted was to disrupt his tutoring and take more of his time than necessary, "five more minutes won't kill you."

"You can have that five minutes _after_ you're done studying," he noted. Chihiro stuck out her tongue at him, but stopped and took a seat when she saw Kanon's pleading stare. Or perhaps Tsukiyo's and Kusunoki's scolding ones.

"Now, let's start this," Keima said, turning back to the blackboard.

(* * *)

The studying group was divided into two subgroups, six girls in each one. The first subgroup consisted of girls who were just aiming to pass with decent score without having to study too much. This group had Mio, Tsukiyo, Shiori, Ayumi, Chihiro and Eri in it and was easy to handle – they concentrated on writing down Keima's notes from the blackboard and then Keima spent 10 minutes with each girl, which was very small amount of time for final exams.

The other group included more ambitious girls or the girls who needed better marks for other reasons. Kusunoki, Minami, Urara, Kanon, Miyako and Yui were in that group and here was where the problem started. Keima had prepared more detailed ad-hoc notes for specific subjects and then copied them during the recess and now handed them over. After that he started individual tutoring, which promised to last for several hours.

In short, this tutoring session was turning out to be troublesome. Keima just hadn't predicted how troublesome it would be.

"I have a problem with this math problem," Miyako said when Keima sat in front of her and raised his eyebrow. He personally thought that Miyako was most likely the smartest girl here. Why would she have problems with math?

"What is the problem?"

"It's from probability theory and combinatorics," Miyako said, "It goes like this: in a box there's 100 red orbs and 20 green orbs. Twelve orbs are picked out from the box. What is the probability that all the picked up orbs will be red?"

"You need to compute the number of combinations using binomial coefficient and then construct a fraction from that," Keima started calmly, while writing on a sheet of paper, "in the numerator there'll be the number of combinations in favor of the event: this will be binomial coefficient of '100 choose 12' and in the denominator will be the number of all possible combinations, so '120 choose 12', which gives us," Keima stopped for a while, "around 10% probability. Understood?"

"Perfectly," Miyako replied with a smile, "but what about if we change the problem slightly?"

"Like what?" Keima asked.

"Like, for example, in Mai High there's 1000girls and 200 boys… what is the probability that 12 people during your tutoring session will be all girls?"

Keima was surprised, but didn't show it. However, he saw several girls stop whatever they were doing and Shiori and Minami even started to fidget uncomfortably and Keima was sure it didn't go unnoticed by Miyako.

"I'd say 2-B pencils count as one, especially since I tutored them before," Keima replied calmly, "Moreover, Aoyama-san and Shiratori-san are Yui's friends, and Shiomiya-san is Kujō-san's friend, so I'd say it's 6 girls not 12, in which case the probability would be around one third. Not so unlikely, right?"

"And since when do you know who is whose friend, Katsuragi?" Miyako asked back, making Keima glad he had used family names instead of given names.

"It wasn't hard to figure out," Keima replied, not batting an eyelid, "trust me, it wasn't information I wanted to learn."

With this he stood up and moved to the next person, who was Minami. Miyako's remarks were troublesome though, as the girl certainly wasn't stupid, so it was no wonder she started to question why there were only girls here. It didn't help that Minami was now sporting a luminescent blush. Keima was really hopeful it was caused by middle school girl's embarrassing memories and not by her still having feelings for him.

(* * *)

"Okay, that's it," Keima said finally, trying to not let the tiredness be heard in his voice, "If you follow this and study on your own you should be able to get at least 90%."

"I can get more if I study with you more," Urara insisted, apparently fine with sleeping in the school building for the sake of her grades.

"Why would you even want a higher score?" Keima questioned.

"Look who's talking, Mr. '99% is a tragedy'," Urara countered, crossing her arms over her chest.

"My studies are different from anyone else's," he commented, "unfortunately, I have no time to help you more."

"I can pay you," Urara tried.

"Then you can pay someone else to tutor you instead," Keima said with finality and stood up, only to hunch over when Yui wrapped her hands around him from the back.

"That's right, Keima-kun can't tutor you, 'cause he needs to relocate his attention somewhere else. Like me!" the drummer finished, rubbing her cheek into Keima's."

"I don't need to r-relocate anything anywhere and c-certainly not in your direction!" Keima snapped, but he stuttered a bit and stopped completely when Yui put her finger to his lips.

"Shh…" the drummer said, getting closer, "just let it happen and-WAAHH!" she shouted when she a pair of strong hands caught her and threw her off Keima's back with considerable force.

"Please, cease this behavior of yours," Kusunoki stood between Yui and Keima with her arms crossed over her chest and she was really imposing considering she was taller than Yui by half a foot, "harassing a weak boy is not a way to express your gratitude for the tutoring!"

"What she said!" Keima said, pointing an accusing finger at Yui.

Kanon watched the exchange and sighed soundlessly. She was kinda jealous of Yui – a girl who met Keima daily and could be so open with her intentions. While Yui wasn't getting closer to Keima (at least Kanon hoped she wasn't), she wasn't falling behind either. On the other hand, Kanon's situation would immediately worsen if she were to go on the offensive like that…

Kanon sighed again. She might've sounded confident about her strategy when talking to Apollo, but reality wasn't so easy. Seriously, how was she supposed to do anything in a situation like this? Today was the first day in a long time when she got to talk to Keima, but all they had talked about were tests and Kanon had had to use half of her focus to keep her face from going red, while enduring gazes of her classmates and friends.

Several minutes after that the tutoring session was over and Urara and Yui left the classroom willy-nilly. Kanon also left after thanking Keima for his help, but it didn't feel anywhere near enough. Kanon would love to thank Keima more, but she didn't know how she could do so at the moment.

Though she did make a resolution to buy Keima as many games as he wanted once she managed to get closer to him. God knows how long will that take though…

Kanon was walking through the corridors when Eri ran up to her. The idol was surprised the bassist was still at school, as the less ambitious group of girls had left some two hours ago.

"Kanon-chan!" the dark-haired girl fell into step besides the idol. "How was it? Did nii-sama help you prepare for the exams?"

"Yes!" Kanon replied. "Keima-kun is really amazing to be able to do things like that."

"Yeah, nii-sama's pretty amazing," Eri confirmed and then stayed quiet for a moment, "Kanon-chan, did you really need help that much to call me late at night?"

Kanon flinched a bit, but Eri wasn't looking at her, so it went unnoticed.

"Well… because of what happened in November my test results worsened, so I need to get really good grades now, so my parents wouldn't worry."

"Oh, I see," Eri lapped it up, "then I wish you do great on your exams. I know you will!"

Kanon smiled at that.

What she had told Eri about her exams was true – she really needed to do great now – but that wasn't what she had had in mind when she had called to ask Eri a favor last night.

No.

What she had been meaning to ask back then was for Eri to substitute for her during the drama shooting kiss scene. It would definitely solve the issue of Kanon having to kiss another boy.

At least that's what Kanon had thought at first…

...but with the call already made and with Eri waiting to hear the requests, the idol had faltered.

Would that really solve anything? For the viewers,fans and – most importantly – Keima, Kanon would still be kissing Daisuke Nishihara. But there was something even more important than that...

For Kanon that would be a second kiss in her life (third, if that peck on the cheek she had got while unconscious counted). And this was something she had unfortunately agreed to. But Eri hadn't kissed anyone in her life yet! And she was such a pure cinnamon roll too! In that case all Kanon's plan would've achieved would be to taint Eri. And in the name of what? Kanon's very own selfishness.

Once she had realized that, Kanon immediately felt disgusted with herself. No, as unwanted as the kissing drama scene was, it was her own problem and responsibility and Eri had nothing to do with it.

Kanon and Eri walked past the gate, where the cab Kanon had called for was already waiting. Kanon said her goodbye to Eri and entered the cab.

"To the-"

"Takes us to Wai Wai Road," a voice to her left interjected.

Kanon almost had a heart attack. She turned to the source of the voice and as surprising as it was, there was another person already in the cab.

Even more surprising, that person was Keima.

"Keima-kun?" Kanon asked, thinking she was dreaming.

"Do you have more friends that look like me?" the boy asked rhetorically.

The driver looked at Kanon, who hesitantly nodded her head.

After that, everything was a blur. After they had arrived at Wai Wai Road, Keima had led Kanon some blocks away and into one of the restaurants.

"We have a reservation here," he said to the waitress and moments later Kanon found herself sitting by a table in a small alcove. What more, the table was not empty – there was already food there and it wasn't cold.

"W-what?" the idol had managed.

"This alcove is hidden from the rest of the restaurant and the staff won't look here from now on either, so you don't need your disguise here," Keima pointed to the coat and beret Kanon was wearing since she had left the school building, "so here you can relax. Also I think you could use a good and warm dinner once in a while. Itadakimasu," he finished as he grabbed his silverware.

"B-but this restaurant has to be pretty expensive," Kanon objected.

"Don't worry about it," Keima said, giving her one of his more authoritative gazes.

"L-let me at least pay for half of it," she suggested.

"Fair enough... Now let's eat."

Kanon hesitantly grabbed her own fork and knife and started to eat. Only now did she realize how famished she was. She also realized that Keima was right – the last time she had eaten a proper dinner like that could be a month ago.

However, the third realization hit her the hardest. This entire setting… a teenage boy and girl eating a dinner in a restaurant alone like this…

Didn't it feel like a date?

As soon as she had thought that, Kanon had to excuse herself for a moment in order to go to the restroom and splash some cool water on her flushed face.

"Wow!" her reflection suddenly flashed, revealing the beaming face of her goddess, "I was very skeptical about this plan of yours, but it seems to have worked really well! You're already on a date with Katsuragi!"

"Not now, Apollo!" Kanon pleaded, before going back to the alcove.

After that she quickly understood that the restroom wasn't the best of ideas – by the time she was back, Keima had already finished his meal and was now free to watch her with those piercing eyes of his.

"Thank you for the meal," Kanon finally said, even though there was a substantial amount of leftovers on her plate. Nevertheless, she opted to leave as quickly as she could – the situation seemed dangerously close to an interrogation, which was even worse than the regular interviews Kanon had to endure.

"Kanon…" with this one word from Keima, the idol's resolved was shattered and she struggled to choke a word out.

"Y-yes?" she managed finally, eyes focusing on his bed hair in order to avoid having to look him in the eye.

"Is something bothering you?" he asked suddenly.

"N-no, nothing unusual," Kanon replied, hoping her voice was as steady as she wanted it to be.

"I see," Keima was quiet for a moment. "One more question then."

Kanon let out a mental sigh of relief. Whatever question was coming at least the kissing thing would be kept under wraps.

"What is the thing that is bothering you?" Keima said.

So it was a trap. And Kanon fell right for it – her slightly open mouth and widened eyes immediately signaling that Keima had been right and something was indeed bothering her.

"That was dirty!" she accused while fighting the urge to pull out her stun guns. It wasn't an answer though.

'He's not making fun of you,' she thought, 'he's just trying to help. He just doesn't know he's the source of the problem.'

"Well, if it's any consolation, then it isn't 'have Nora steal your underwear' level of dirty."

"I'll say it in advance," Kanon started, "I will have no qualms about tasing any panty thief until he's burned to a crisp."

"I got you… not that I'd ever need to use that knowledge," Keima said.

Kanon gave him a look that said she wasn't convinced, but she had to admit that this little exchange did take her mind off the kissing issue and she did feel a little better now.

"It's not about your bed hair again, is it?" Keima tried after a moment, giving Kanon a surprisingly serious gaze, making the idol smile at the memories of their past 'consultations'.

"No, it's not," she laughed.

For the next five minutes Keima continued to probe for various issues, which were obviously not what the problem was about. No, his aim was to help Kanon relax and it worked – soon Kanon got back to her food, deciding that that it was too good to leave any leftovers.

"So," Keima started again when Kanon cleaned her plate and leaned back in satisfaction, "it seems, I won't be able to guess what the problem is, if you don't tell me."

Kanon sighed in defeat. Part of her was still wary, but Keima's voice was soothing and she wanted to get this off her shoulders. She guessed she could tell him part of it.

"There's this drama shooting where I play the main character," Kanon fidgeted for a moment before continuing, "when it first started, I saw it as a great way to increase my popularity… because I was… umm…"

"Starved for attention," Keima finished for her. "So you don't want to star in this drama anymore?"

"It's not exactly like that," Kanon bit her lip, "I mean, I signed a contract and by doing so I have agreed to some stuff I'm not so sure about anymore…"

Keima could relate to that, because he remembered his own contract with New Hell all too well. However, he had been forced into the contract, while Kanon had agreed to everything.

"So which part of the contract bothers you? They don't want you to go through some risky stunts, do they?"

Kanon shook her head.

"You have to play some character you don't like?"

"No…"

Keima went quiet, not sure whether to head in the direction of more trivial or more serious things…

"It's not about nudity, right?"

"Oh, God, noo!" Kanon exclaimed, suddenly glad being an idol meant being a role model and that excluded any… bold scenes. She also meant a mental note to never agree to any such stuff.

"Then I'm going to continue guessing until you tell me-"

"Ihavetokissaguy," Kanon said faster than the electricity arc could travel between the electrodes of her stun gun and it was clearly too fast for Keima.

"What?"

"There's a scene where I have to kiss a guy," she repeated, aware that the color of her face was indistinguishable from the color of her hair, "and by this I mean I have to kiss for real."

"I didn't see you have any issue with kissing before," Keima noticed.

"T-that was different!" Kanon exclaimed as she stood up, feeling the need to defend herself, a weird mix of anger and embarrassment making her face go even redder.

Keima didn't jump back, but she did notice him tensing a bit, as if he was expecting her to shock him again. The thought made her wince a bit. Did he think she was going to hurt him over that?

"I-I mean it was private, not done in public and I-I kinda wanted to do it back then," Kanon glanced away, certain that Keima would figure her intentions out if she looked him in the eye.

"Okay, I got it," Keima said and sighed, "I take it you have already talked with your manager, staff and the director," Kanon nodded, "and you wanted for Eri to take your place, but reconsidered?"

"Y-yes," Kanon confirmed. Her amazement at Keima figuring out this much was reduced by fear. This means Keima knows she was close to using his little sister, right?

"It's good you've reconsidered," the gamer said and Kanon could feel his piercing gaze on her, "because Eri would have agreed to it even if she didn't want to kiss random guys. You shouldn't abuse your popularity like that…"

"I know! I was just panicking, okay?"

"Then you might wanna try taking things a little more calmly," Keima said seriously. "More planning and reasoning. Less fussing or relying on emotions."

"Like the reason and logic you use when playing your games?" Kanon asked. "But reality is not that simple. And it _is_ an emotional problem, you know?" she accused.

"Maybe," Keima admitted, pulling out his PFP, "but you're an idol. Famous in all of Japan. I know you want to reach to everyone and spread your songs, but being an idol is also a job. A business. And a lot of other people's jobs depend on need to be able to make careful and informed decisions or you'll be sorry when the consequences happen."

Kanon bit her lip. To that she had no reply. It was times like that that made her envy Keima. He was a brilliant human. Where she needed a team of professionals to spread her songs, he was guiding his "gaming lost lambs" by himself and himself alone. She was certain he could have succeeded as an idol if only he hadn't hated reality and had been a girl. Pfft… he didn't even need to be a girl, Kanon thought as she remembered his cross-dressing episode.

"I see you understand," Keima commented on her silence, "unfortunately, I don't think I can help you with that one. This is something you have to decide for yourself."

"You say it as if I actually have a choice..." Kanon said darkly.

"You can always break the contract," Keima commented.

"But there would be consequences for that!" Kanon reminded him.

Keima nodded."Of course, there would be, but if you do nothing there will be consequences as well. It's only a matter of what you prefer," he was quiet for a moment, pressing the buttons on his console, his eyes reflecting the light from the screen. "After all... humans are limited by reality. They have free will and the ability to choose, but there are always some restrictions... some limits that humans cannot overcome. Humans are always in some kind of cage, even if the cage is too big to see it. Thus, 'freedom' and 'choice' isn't about humans getting out of cages, but choosing the cage they feel most comfortable in."

"That's really deep… and sad," Kanon commented, before looking up. "Is this what you truly believe? Is this why you play games?"

Keima shrugged. "Reality is certainly a shitty game. It's imperfect and unreasonable," he replied calmly. "I've understood it even better after I was forced into all this Hell and Heaven mess. It was a 'restriction' put on me and my gaming time. However," he looked up, "Neither Hell nor Heaven, nor other people decide who am I and what I believe in," he stated seriously. "I'm the one who chooses whether my life is fun or not. You should know that already. You should try to follow that too."

"So you fight against those limitations in order to stay in the cage that is most comfortable for you, right?" Kanon asked and Keima nodded. "And that means the cage when you play games and ignore everyone? In such case 'the most comfortable cage' is just 'comfort zone'. You should step outside of it sometimes," Kanon finished.

"I have stepped out of it. I wouldn't be here otherwise," Keima said, gesturing to both of them and the table. "And I'm not exactly the same any more. You should know that as well…"

"I know that and I'm really glad Keima-kun is more in touch with reality now," Kanon smiled at him.

"Then perhaps you should step outside your comfort zone as well? Which brings us back to the issue at hand," Keima turned the tables on Kanon, as he put his console next to his empty plate, crossed his leg sand pushed up his glasses. "What are you going to do about this drama problem?"

"I… will think about it," Kanon said slowly.

"Good answer," Keima praised her. "Now let's go, before your manager finds out about it and skins me alive."

"Ahaha!" Kanon chuckled nervously, but she got up as well. It was late already, but the idol still had a thing or two to do today.

(* * *)

"Thank you very much for today, Keima-kun," she told him when she was already in the cab, while Keima was outside.

"You're welcome," he hesitated for a moment before adding. "And good luck on your tests."

Kanon beamed. "I don't need luck, I have a great tutor," she winked, before giving the driver her destination and waving to Keima. "See you next time, Keima-kun!"

And with that the cab drove away.

Keima remained on the spot for several moments, before he put his hand inside his pocket and fished out an electronic device.

"Hey, it's me," he said after a moment, "I need you to check one thing for me."

(* * *)

"Okay, move it there! Put your back to it people!" the director was bossing the stage designers, cameramen and other members of the movie crew around, "it's only March, the sun won't stay high forever, you know!"

Kanon wasn't being bossed around, yet she'd rather fix cameras with her stun guns or move heavy equipment around than be where she was, looking at the sky, hoping a sudden rainstorm would save her from her predicament, but the sky was surprisingly clear.

And any rain would be a temporary relief anyway...

Today was the day when she was supposed to kiss Daisuke Nishihara.

And not just one kiss. I mean, the script called for just one, but Kanon had enough experience with drama shooting to know that it won't be filmed with one take. Moreover, the scene was the most important in the series thus far, so Kanon was sure the director would want to repeat the scene until it was perfect (or until Kanon put her foot down).

After much deliberation, she had decided to try and go along with the script and bravely face the consequences of her choice… except she had problem with the 'bravely' part.

Actually, Kanon was nervous to say the least. The fact that Keima now knew that this would happen didn't help her mood much if at all. I mean, how was she supposed to do that? The only experience she had was a quick kiss that she initiated. It wasn't long, passionate or anywhere near the kisses that were portrayed in movies or teenage dramas. Now she was supposed to have a guy kiss her like that, but she had never had a kiss where a guy had been the one to initiate the act!

That meant that Kanon didn't actually know how it felt to be kissed by a guy. How it felt to have a guy want to kiss her, especially a guy who had experience. She wondered how Keima's kiss would feel like, considering he had more practice than some people twice his age, as ironic as it was. It was likely that he'd be a good kisser…

And yet, Kanon was supposed to kiss someone else...

Of course, it was probable that half of the male teenage population of Japan would like to be the one to kiss Kanon, especially since they thought it'd be her first kiss…

And Daisuke Nishihara certainly wasn't an exception to that…

It might be some kind of prejudice Kanon had towards him, but her opinion on Daisuke got lower and lower. She was pretty much the same age as the character she was supposed to play. It was different with Daisuke though – the character he was playing was close to eighteen years old, but Daisuke himself was twenty. Well, it was common in filming business to have people in their mid twenties play the role of teenagers, but it seemed to make him more… haughty…

Kanon wasn't denying that he was a gifted actor and a celebrity, but she had the feeling he had been patronizing her...

And Daisuke definitely had experience. It wouldn't be the first time he'd be kissing a girl on stage and, from what Kanon had heard, he had considerable kissing experience outside of movie shooting as well and it. This irked Kanon and not because she was jealous.

As if to make matter worse, people around Kanon had noticed her nervousness and had mistaken it for her being shy in front of Daisuke. The last thing she wanted now was for rumors that she liked him to start…

Calm down, she told herself, a few more days. A few more days and it'll be over. Drama shooting and the tests will be over and she'll be able to relax. She was already looking forward to the spring break and the delayed 'offstage birthday' party.

"Kanon," the voice of Okada brought her out of her musings, "the crew is done. They're ready for shooting."

""C-coming," the idol responded, while trying to put a smile on her face, but not quite succeeding.

It was time to get this thing over with.

(* * *)

"Aaand cut! We've got it!" the director announced and Kanon let out the breath she had been holding.

It was barely 2 PM, but she was already tired. It usually took at least three takes to film each scene. Not that it was anything new, but Kanon was surprisingly sick of it today and the longer the filming took, the closer her nerves were to snapping.

"Okay, everyone, with this we have everything, except for one last scene," director said, turning to the idol, "are you ready, Kanon-chan?"

"Y-yes," Kanon lied through her teeth.

"Then-"

"Don't you think we could use a little break? We've been filming non-stop for the last 5hours" Okada interjected out of nowhere, her hard gaze focused on the director, "You don't want to have the quality of the acting decreased because of tiredness, right, Director-san?"

"But we have to film while the lighting is still good," the director argued, "there are clouds on the horizon and soon-"

"As long as I'm Kanon's manager, it's my responsibility to look over her and ensure she doesn't overwork herself," Okada said more forcefully, making several of the movie crew members step backwards involuntarily. Anyone who had enough guts to object the director openly like that was to be feared,"Kanon will resume filming only when I say so and I say she needs a break now."

"You worry too much, Okada-san," Daisuke appeared out of nowhere and put his arm on Okada's shoulder, "I assure you that Kanon is in good hands," he winked and smiled at the idol, obviously not noticing the glare Okada was sending his way.

Kanon herself felt her innards clench in a mix of embarrassment and anger, the boy's action confirming what she had noticed earlier in the day.

He was hitting on her!

And in front of everyone like that! When the two of them were running through the field in one scene and hugging in another, he was definitely holding onto her far longer than necessary!

She swore, one more… event like that and she was going to introduce Daisuke-kun to her trusty stun guns!

"See, Okada-san, there's no need to-" the director tried, but faltered under Okada's hard gaze, "all right, all right! You get20 minute-break."

Daisuke was about to say something, but in this exact moment his cell phone rang and the boy answered it and smile.

"Hello, Charlotte-chan," he started and the listened to his caller for a moment, "actually, I got a short break. I'll be with you in a moment," and with this he walked away.

So he was hitting on Kanon and flirting openly with another woman? Kanon clenched her fist. The gall of this guy!

(* * *)

"Are you okay, Kanon?" Okada asked when they were back in the idol's room.

"Yes, I'll be fine. Thank you."

After that Kanon spent her break relaxing by listening to some music, while trying not to mess up her make up or hairdo – the director would freak out if they were forced to waste another half an hour on characterization.

However, the break ended quickly and soon Okada was knocking on Kanon's door. Fortunately, by now Kanon has regained her resolution and put on her acting persona.

In no time at all she was back at the stage and everyone seemed ready, except…

"Where's Nishihara-san?" Kanon asked, taking care to address Daisuke by his family name.

"He had to answer that phone call," someone from the crew said, "he's been gone since then."

"Preposterous!" Okada wasn't even hiding her opinion, "Here we are, all of us and he dilly-dallies now out of all times!"

"I'm very sorry," there was a voice behind them, "but I used the break to browse through the script and I took the liberty of making some changes for the plot of further episodes."

He had done _what_? Kanon thought. Who do he think he is? Did he wnated to add more kissing scenes perhaps? Was he planning to seduce her that way? That's it! She turned to him to tell him bluntly what she thought of him and his inflated ego. She opened her mouth… and it stayed that way.

In front of her stood Daisuke Nishihara. His clothes were exactly as when she had last seen him 20 minutes ago and his voice was the same, maybe a little less haughty than normal. Everything seemed to fit. Except his face, because it wasn't the face of Daisuke Nishihara.

It was the face of Keima Katsuragi.

"Nishihara-san?" Okada said, looking closer. "Did you change your hairstyle?"

"A little bit," Daisuke-Keima replied.

"Who did this?"

"Me," another voice interjected as an adult woman with very light blond hair and dark complexion appeared behind the boy and waved in the direction of Kanon. "Hiiii…"

Kanon closed her mouth and opened it again. Still no effect.

"Never mind that…" the director said,clearly irritated,"what do you mean you made some changes to my script!?"

"Well, I thought the changes were necessary to bring out the full potential of my skills as an actor," Daisuke-Keima said, handing the director a few pages full of handwritten notes.

"How dare you! Do you think you can come out with some clever-" the director stopped, his eyes skimming through the notes, "t-this is brilliant, Daisuke-kun!" the director exclaimed several seconds later.

"Glad you approve, Director-san," Daisuke-Keima bowed his head a little, "now, how about we continue the filming? You said the time is short yourself."

"That's right! Get ready, people!" the director shouted and the filming crew members started to run in various, seemingly random directions.

Kanon continued to just stand for several more moments, before she blinked.

"W-what?" she managed, looking around and seeing the crew buzzing past her, before she looked back at Daisuke-Keima. The feeling that he wasn't Daisuke was getting stronger by the second. "K-Keima-kun?"

"What are you talking about? He's Daisuke-kun, isn't he?" the blond woman from before put her hands on Kanon's shoulders from behind as she whispered and Kanon finally realized why the woman seemed familiar.

"Nora..." the idol whispered.

"Now, now, if I were you, I'd try to remember my lines right now!" with that, the woman backed away.

"Aaand… action!" the director said.

"Maron…" Keima addressed Kanon by her in-drama character's name in Daisuke's voice, except it was full of emotion. "Are you okay?"

"Y-yes," Kanon replied, coincidentally matching her line in the script. She realized the camera was on and the feeling of duty surged in her, so she went along with it, although it wasn't easy – after all, those were Keima's piercing eyes that were looking at her. "What did you call me out here, Hayate-kun?"

Keima kept to the script, with slight modifications – he didn't reply immediately, looking away from her, as if not wanting to answer her question.

"Hayate-kun?" she repeated, taking a step forward. She had to applaud Keima's acting skills – it really felt as if he was ignoring her, making her heart clench. "Is everything all right?"

"I'm scared," Keima-Hayate replied.

"Hayate-kun? Scared?" Kanon-Maron repeated and shook her head. "That's impossible! Hayate-kun is the bravest person I know!" she praised him. "The way you faced many enemies at once back then was really cool!"

Keima-Hayate shook his head. "Facing men or demons is one thing. But there are other things. Things far more frightening…"

"What do you mean, Hayate-kun?" Kanon-Maron asked, making sure her voice was uncertain and her facial expression conveyed confusion and anxiety. "What could be more frightening then the fight back then?"

"The thought of losing you," Keima-Hayate said bluntly, finally looking at the idol actress. With shocking results – Kanon widened her eyes and was quiet for a moment.

A bit longer than what the script dictated.

"Kanon!" Okada delivered the quietest shout possible from the sidelines. "Your line!"

The director was also mouthing words to her and Kanon caught it from the corner of her eye.

"W-what do you mean?"

"All my life I was running away, not able to trust anyone, all I cared for was survival and nothing else," Keima-Hayate walked closer, "but back then, I just couldn't bear to imagine life without you, Maron-chan."

"H-Hayate-kun?" Kanon-Maron questioned and involuntarily stepped back – this wasn't in the script as well.

"Maron-chan," Keima-Hayate stepped closer and suddenly the starting tunes of 'Love Call' could be heard thanks to sound effects crew, "I've never met anyone like you. You're like a shining star. A beacon that lights my path that was shrouded in darkness till now."

They were now face to face, but they weren't Hayate and Maron anymore. They were Keima and Kanon.

Keima reached out with his hand and brushed Kanon's pink lock away, before cupping and caressing her cheek.

"B-but why?" Kanon questioned.

"Because you're the most amazing, the most beautiful and the most important woman in my life," Keima said, gaze turning serious. "Because I love you and anyone who'll want to hurt the woman I love will have to step over my dead body first."

"I," Kanon started, but her voice stuck in her throat. "I love you too."

The next thing Kanon knew was Keima leaning in closer and her own head tilting to the side on its own, before she closed her eye and felt Keima pressing hislips to hers. This was when the flimsy suspension of disbelief she was clinging to popped like a soap bubble.

She didn't know what happened to the real Daisuke Nishihara, but the person kissing her right now wasn't him. The person in front of her was Keima Katsuragi. Her crush. The boy she was in love with.

Keima Katsuragi was kissing her to the sounds of her very own song and the lyrics were now at the "I LOVE YOU" part.

Keima was kissing her!

And it felt divine.

Keima wrapped his arms around her and brought her closer. Kanon mimicked his motion and started to kiss him back in the earnest, pouring all she had into the kiss. Her heart was beating like crazy and her entire body was on fire, with the source on her lips, but it was the best fire she'd ever felt in her life.

It was the warmth that brought her peace and safety. It made her feel alive. Like a piece of a puzzle that was missing before.

Alas, Kanon felt Keima pull back eventually and she let out a whimper at the loss of contact. Nonetheless, she opened her eyes and realized it wasn't a dream. The thought made her smile warmly. It was a smile of happiness.

"Aaand cut! We've got it! We've got it on the first take!" the director said, bringing Kanon back to reality and making her turn only to see a lot of people clasping their hands and cheering.

"That was great!"

"It looked so professional! Where did you learn to kiss like that?"

Kanon was quiet for a moment, as if she didn't understand.

"What do you mean 'we've got it'?" she asked. "W-won't you need another take on this?"

"Why?" a voice to her left asked. "Would you like another try?"

Kanon froze. Slowly, she turned to her kissing partner and noticed they were pretty much still hugging. Keima's eyes were trained on her and they seemed to see right through her. Maybe even through Apollo.

Kanon could still hear 'Love Call' in the background and suddenly realized she had kinda made a love call just now and it might've been a little too effective, conveying more than she had intended to disclose.

"So I was right," Keima's eyes narrowed. "Then that's your play..."

Kanon gulped.

Keima was aware of her feelings for him now.

 **(* * *)**

 **Ta-daah!**

 **So here it is! It's only third chapter, but Kanon and Keima are already on a date... kinda.**

 **They are already kissing... kinda.**

 **And Keima already knows! What are you going to do now, Kanon-chan, I wonder? :P**

 **Anyway, this chapter contains a lot of parts not really essential from the point of Kanon, but I couldn't resist adding other girls (the tutoring) or adding the scene with** **Nikaidō.  
**

 **The chapter is also largely philosophical, what's with Keima talking about freedom and responsibility.**

 **I also feel I should explain the thing with the party and Kanon's birthday. Kanon's birthday is March 3 and it already happened off-screen, though Kanon was meeting with fans mostly. However, she's also planning to have "second" birthday party with her friends (including Keima) during the spring break and after the tests are over. Just sayin'.**

 **And ouch, Keima doesn't even know who Mobuko is... I know she's just a background character, but she's still a classmate. Harsh, Keima, harsh... xD**

 **As for Maron and Hayate... I took "Hayate" from "Hayate no Gotoku" (not that I watch it) or from the dog in Full Metal Alchemist. As for Maron... well, you should know. :P**

 **Finally, there's the math problem Miyako described. The intention was for Miyako to slyly point out that it was really unlikely that Keima would tutor 12 girls and not a single boy. I took effort to make Miyako's questions and Keima's answers actually mathematically correct... I've never did it in English though...  
**

 **I think that's mostly it. As usual, I kindly ask you to drop me a review. Tell me what you think about those developments! Favoriting and following this story would be nice as well!**

 **And await the next chapter (I hope you won't have to wait 3 weeks for it).**

 **See you next time!**


	4. Flag 67: Home Sweet Home

**Hello, everyone!**

 **I'm here.**

 **I'm done preparing the chapter.**

 **And I'm late...**

 **...like super late. Seriously, this was probably the longest break we had in KamiNomiNai series since it had begun. I _did_ write that Kusunoki one-shot in the meantime, but it's not an excuse. I had some other issue. Work. Hot weather. Laziness. Still not an excuse.**

 **Finally, I seem to have a big trouble coming up with plot for this story. Like seriously, half of the ideas in this (or the next) chapter came to me out of a sudden while I was writing something else). Even when ideas came, I had great trouble writing anything.**

 **I just hope that was a one-time thing and once we reach a certain threshold in the story it will be easier. I hope so...**

 **Long story short is: I'm not dead or abandoning this story or anything. Maybe I should post progress updates on my profile... what do you think?**

 **Anyway, as for the chapter itself... it was supposed to cover more plot, but i found a so-so place to cut and this chapter is some 7000–8000 words long anyway...**

 **...the bad news is that because of the cut some things that I planned for this chapter were scheduled for the next one... so this chapter might feel like bit of a filler, but it isn't.**

 **Another note. I searched for the ways to get rid of this annoying issue of words being glued together. The solution is a little bit annoying and doesn't make writing easier, but I hope it'll help. So if you see any obviously glued words, please let me know (no need to point every single one of them. Just let me know if they happen a lot and give an example).**

 **Anyway, as always I want to thank for your support, including favs, follows and reviews. Here are the replies (written quite some time ago actually):**

 **Leyknar:** Thank you for the review. Yeah, any moves during the tutoring were unlikely :P.

 **Ghost man:** Well, I wouldn't say "as always", 'cause Keima can be pretty oblivious at times. But yeah, he's a spy material. Punishment? Lol, I wonder... :P

 **Firefoxmonik:** Heh, Kanon didn't have much reason to avoid Keima's gaze. Now though... :P Nope, I'm rather bad at chemistry. What I apply in my stories are bits of knowledge I've heard or read about, so they're most often just that – bits. Nonetheless, thank you for your kind words. Well, I guess I'm a bit like Keima. Except much less game loving, much less skilled at games. Well, at least I'm not slapped around by angry goddesses and jealous devils.

 **Sir Sleeps-a-lot:** This review... just wow :). Not enough song references though... -.-' Yup, I like crowd scenes. Nooo! Don't tase Sir Sleeps-a-lot, Kanon! At least let her finish saying that! You know you want to :P. Yay, for Kanon asking for seconds! Well as for "Keima undermined his own philosophy"... yes... and no :P. I don't really agree about Keima and script changes. Such absurds aren't that absurd in a manga like this, so I don't see why fanfiction should be different :). Don't compare Keima to some Oreimo character – it was Keima who wrote that script and he wrote it in a chair. And we all know all grand schemes are written in a chair! xD Well, the math problem can be considered university level although I learned about such things in high school, as I was in math and physics "faculty". I still needed to look around to make sure I understood how to solve that one. :P

 **Normality Is Key:** it's ok. Yeah, I'd like for every Nomi to be unique, though that's very hard to do as I like to reuse ideas and some things in-story have to be repeated. As for learning about the orb and a harem... I'm not really sure about any of those ideas... I guess I'd have to write a separate harem story sometime... not anytime soon though.

 **ZelgadisGW:** Yup, you are :). Yay for Miyako! Yay for kissing scenes! Kanon-chan, ganbare! xD

 **Guest:** *cough* *cough* Any similarities between drama plot and TWGOK is accidental *cough* *cough* But seriously, I was more aiming for a mix between Magical Star Kanon 100% and Sabrina the teenage witch (despite seeing next to none of those xD). But I guess there is some resemblance. Well, as they say, the more the merrier. xD

 **NiteyNite:** This is Kanon Airship One. Bombs away! I repeat! Bombs away! Impact confirmed! xD.

 **Mid or feed:** Yup, Miyako deserves more screen time. And a conquest arc :P. As for your question, Kanon was very reluctant to kiss Daisuke, but is _very_ okay with kissing Keima and pretty much asks for more. For the rest of the crew this might look as "merely pointing to the quality of their acting", but Keima is not that stupid here. If this isn't enough, Keima directly calls her bluff and Kanon's facial expression probably betrays her. If you want any further explanation, please consult the chapter below ^^.

 **El Sarori69:** Sigh... you clearly don't understand... They do go back (their "minds" are "pulled back"), but this happens only when their life ends (e.g. dying from old age)... or if the "game" fails (hasn't happened so far). About the boyfriend thing. I wasn't aware of the details, so I looked up some things and I have an answer to you, but it's in the chapter, as it is kinda plot relevant. I'll just say here the part that is not in the chapter: manga portrays Kanon as not that much concerned with meeting Keima even back when she wasn't in love with him, so it might not be as bad as you suggest. True, some of the fans act jealous/shocked etc., but we'll see about that as well. Anyway, thanks for pointing that out. Also, you can easily find reports of idols winning their rights to have a boyfriend in Japanese courts and Kanon's kinda special still. More in the chapter.

And as for the "rose-tinted glasses" it's an expression, meaning a person sees the target of his/her affection in an idealized way (e.g. doesn't sees her/his flaws), like love is a pair of (obviously pink) glasses that "filters" what one sees. So, Kanon tries to avoid this "rose glasses effect" (e.g. look at Keima objectively and clearly). The mention of her wearing glasses and having pink hair is just a pun suggesting she's naturally suited for such glasses :).

 **Ok, enough with this. On with the show!**

 **(* * *)**

"Kanon!" a woman in her forties exclaimed as she hugged the idol tightly, "welcome home, sweetie!"

"Hi, mom," the pink-haired girl replied somewhat clumsily. Meeting with her parents after a long separation was always a bit awkward, yet happy thing. "Hi, dad."

Her father embraced her as well, "We've missed you."

Soon the entire family of three was seated by the table and Kanon was reminded of how family dinner felt like. Seriously, none of the restaurant or hastily prepared and hastily consumed food could ever compare to the quiet meal conjured by her mother. The only problem was that the idol was trying to eat and hold a conversation at the same time, telling her parents of all, well, most things that have been happening in her life recently.

Kanon's parents were fairly regular people, considering her daughter was a national idol. Mr. Nakagawa was your typical salaryman, a white-collar worker employed by a corporation. He wasn't on the lowest tier nor he was in the top brass. He was in the middle, although that was already fairly high in the hierarchy. The fact that he had a famous daughter was both an advantage – he certainly was more known than his colleagues – and a drawback – because people often would get interested once they've learned his name and would involve him into lengthy conversations.

Mrs. Nakagawa, on the other hand, was mostly a housewife, tending to the house. However, with Kanon away there wasn't really that much to take care of in a small apartment, so the woman also worked part-time in a local store. Fortunately, her family name wasn't shown on her name tag, so no-one outside the regulars knew she was mother of _the_ Kanon Nakagawa.

"So, Kanon," her father started gently, but the idol already knew that particular tone like the back of her hand and she knew the question that was coming, "me and your mother both know how busy you are and you know we're very proud of you..."

Kanon nodded, using the opportunity that she didn't have to reply with words to get another mouthful of the food. Mom really outdid herself today...

"...but we're worried about your grades."

"I know," Kanon replied, knowing why their parents felt uneasy about her education. Her grades have dropped a bit when she had become an idol and her father had a talk with Okada to stop any further regress. Of course, it wasn't as if Kanon was stupid. Actually, during the last 10 years her view on school changed dramatically – before she thought it was boring, but now she really missed school, including regular homework and nagging teachers.

However, during her midterm tests here performance was far from stellar. Of course it was bad, but the thing that really bothered Kanon was that it was because of Vintage and that What's-her-name devil with a knife, yet it was Keima and Okada who had to take the blame for it. If only Kanon could tell her parents the truth... that Okada was innocent in this... alas she couldn't.

But at least she had some good news in that department.

"Actually," she put away her chopsticks, "my results came in today and all of the scores for the important subjects are in high 80s or lower 90s."

"R-really?" Mr. Nakagawa asked, clearly surprised by this development, "a-are you sure you didn't overwork yourself studying?" perhaps he felt guilty as well.

"Not really," Kanon said, "I joined a friends' tutoring group in school and there was a really wonderful student there. He helped me... understand a lot of stuff," this wasn't completely true, as Keima's tutoring method mostly worked by predicting exam questions and focusing on them, so it wasn't the best form of true education, but it certainly helped.

"How big that group was?" her mother asked casually.

"Around a dozen people or so," Kanon said, feeling that since their parents learned of her good results, the worst was behind her. Oh, how wrong she was!

Her parents both raised their eyebrows, but Kanon didn't notice it, busy putting more food on her plate.

"Isn't that like almost half of your class?" her mother noticed.

"Well... around half of them were from my class, but there were some people from class A and C. Oh... and there was someone from the third year and a girl from the middle school as well."

A few seconds have passed since Kanon realized the silence. She looked up to notice her parents weren't eating, looking at her with slightly surprised expressions.

"Umm... is something wrong?" the pink-haired girl asked.

"There were 12 people from 5 classes, 3 grades and 2 schools?" this time it was her father.

Kanon nodded, not understanding what was weird about that. I mean, it _was_ weird if someone were there and knew about Keima's circumstances, but Kanon hadn't mentioned those...

"And all of them are your friends?"

Kanon finally understood her parents' surprise. She had complained to them over a year ago that she didn't have any friends at school and interacted mostly with Okada and her staff (and those were professional relations with people older than her). Most of the people her age she knew and interacted with at that time were other idols and singers and they were pretty much all her senpais and most of them wasn't very nice. So, it's no wonder her suddenly being friends with so diverse group of teenagers would seem as weird.

"Well, I don't know all of them that well," Kanon explained slowly, "but there were those 4 girls from the Light Music Club I've told you about and a boy from my class. I guess you could say they're my friends."

Mrs. Nakagawa was about to say something, but her husband beat her to it. "That's great, sweetie!"

Kanon smiled, before she remembered there actually was something she'd to discuss with her parents.

"Ano... there's one thing concerning my birthday that I haven't told you about," she said.

"Don't tell me something came up and you have to go back to work," her father mused.

"No, it's not that," Kanon assured him, "I've promised some of my friends that we'll meet each other to celebrate the day after tomorrow. You know, birthday, end of the the school kinda thing."

"Are you going to a club or something?" her father asked concerned. He wasn't worried about his daughter when he was surrounded with her staff, but clubbing with barely known friends...

"No, you know such things aren't for me, dad," Kanon shook her head, "no, it's just a meeting in one of my friends house... She's a sole daughter of a very prestigious family," she added when she saw that her explanation didn't help. "And I'll carry my stun guns, of course, just in case."

Mr. Nakagawa continued to look anxious for a moment, but then he nodded his head.

"All right," he said, "let's talk about something else. How's work?"

"Good," Kanon responded shortly, before she remembered that her parents didn't know about the kiss thing. They did follow all of her shows, but the latest 2 episodes hadn't aired yet. As embarrassing and complicated as this issue was, she'd better tell her parents about it before they'll learn it from TV, "anyway, you know the teen drama I'm starring in right now, right?"

"Which one?" Kanon's mother furrowed her brow, as if Kanon starred in dozens of such shows.

"Magical Star Maron," Kanon explained surprised. She was certain her parents would remember the name of her shows.

"Oh, now I remember," Kanon's mother said with a small smile, just as Kanon took a drink, "it's the one when you kiss that boy, right?"

Kanon did a marvelous spit-take.

"*cough* *cough* How do you know about _that_?"

"You wanted your manager to negotiate that we could get the early look on your songs, movies and such, remember?" Mr. Nakagawa said.

Kanon did remember that, but she didn't remember this thing being solved. She had to sign something for it to work, right? Kanon had been avoiding signing things when she was dead tired, but it had happened once or twice. Of course, Okada-san would ask if she got everything and, of course, Kanon would vigorously nod her head, even if she was half-asleep.

"Anyway, we've talked with your manager over phone," there was a glint in Kanon's mother's eyes when she said that, "she said you were really... passionate in that kissing scene."

Good thing Kanon had put away her drink.

"It's not like that!" she exclaimed. "I'm not in love with Daisuke Nishihara! I barely know the guy! No, actually, I dislike him!"

"Really?" Kanon's mother asked. "From what I've heard and _seen_ it–"

"Give it a rest," Kanon's father chided his wife, "she's just sixteen. She should be worried about her education."

"She's no longer a child!" Kanon's mother protested. "She's more capable of taking care of herself than many girls after high school!"

"Ano, do you want to hear about my new song?" Kanon suggested, trying to change the topic. The last thing she wanted was for her parents to argue because of her lifestyle...

Fortunately, the new topic proved successful and the kissing was soon forgotten.

(* * *)

"Here it is," Kanon's mother said as she flipped the switch on, flooding the room with light.

It was Kanon's old room and despite not being used for quite a while, it looked really immaculate – not a speck of dirt or dust in sight and all things were in their proper places. Obviously, mom had cleaned her before I arrived, Kanon thought, as she sat down on the bed, smoothing out non-existent wrinkles on the comforter.

"I bet you're very tired, dear," the older woman remarked as she sat down on the bed as well, "but I want to talk to you before you go to sleep."

"Talk?" Kanon repeated. Didn't they just talk for hours in the living room? "About what?"

"Do you like this boy you kissed?" her mother asked.

"Why is everyone asking that?" the idol responded, her voice annoyed.

"So you don't like him?" her mother asked, furrowing her brow.

"Why would I?" Kanon asked. "He's a snob."

"But the kiss–"

"Mom, please," Kanon said in exasperation, "it was just acting."

"From what you're manager said–"

"Are you having Okada-san spy on me for you?" Kanon asked.

"But of course," the older woman admitted.

Kanon sighed. It's not like she could blame her parents...

"No, I don't like Daisuke Nishihara," Kanon confirmed, the very thought bringing back some troublesome recent events, "not one bit. I've already said that during dinner!"

"All right, all right, I believe you," her mother was quiet for a moment. "Then who is it?"

"Huh?" Kanon tilted her head in confusion, "Who's who?"

"The boy you're in love with."

It was suddenly quiet enough that one could hear the wall clock from the living room.

Tick-tock, tick-tock, tick-tock...

"Kanon?"

"I-I'm not in l-love with anyone!" Kanon suddenly replied with a smile. "W-what made you think that?"

Her mother raised an eyebrow.

Stuttering. Widened eyes. Pink cheeks. Panic hidden beneath 'show business poker face'.

Yup, the older woman thought, totally not in love...

"I'm sorry, honey, but it's useless to hide it," she said. "A mother always know."

Kanon remainded in her I-don't-know-what-you-mean pose for a two more seconds, before she hung her head.

"How long have you known?" the idol asked after a moment.

"I had my suspicions for the last few months, but only today I was able to make sure," Mrs. Nakagawa said, before noticing her daughter's sullen expression, "what's wrong?"

"It's not going how I'd like it to go," Kanon said vaguely.

Mrs. Nakagawa paused to think about it. Normally, having a boyfriend while being an idol would be next to impossible. Idols were practically guarded by their managers and had a distinct "no dating" rule in their contracts. Of course, this was to prevent the idol from ruining her image or the fantasies of her fans. That's how it was. Or at least that's how it had been in the past. Recently, the number of idols suing her managers for restricting their love life was similar or even greater to the number of managers suing idols for breaking the "no dating" rule.

In Kanon's case, the girl had such a clause in her contract before. Back then Kanon was part of Citron. She was too young to have a boyfriend, especially while working in show business and she accepted the contract simply because of the need to prove herself. The last contract was supposed to be the same (and Kanon would've agreed to it), but Mr. and Mrs. Nakagawa put her foot down. Of course, it wasn't a complete win and the higher-ups demanded a modified clause. Thus, if Kanon's image (read profit) were to be damaged due to a relationship with a boy, her pay would be reduced considerably and her idol career would be viewer as far less favorable.

Mrs. Nakagawa didn't see it as a problem though. By now Kanon was a unique phenomenon. Her songs resounded in hearts in people of all genders and ages. Young hormone-driven boys were far from being a majority and Mrs. Nakagawa was sure a lot of them would understand if Kanon were to enter relationship with a boy.

However, Kanon knew all that, so it obviously wasn't a crux of the problem.

"What do you mean?" Mrs. Nakagawa asked.

"Well... it's kinda an unrequited love at the moment..." Kanon explained.

That comment surprised the older woman. That sounded as if Kanon had been already rejected. Now, Mrs. Nakagawa was far from thinking her daughter was perfect, but nonetheless she found a scenario where a young boy rejects her daughter quite impossible to imagine.

"Just who is that boy?" Mrs. Nakagawa wondered aloud, but Kanon didn't reply, making the older woman's thoughts wander. Maybe...

"Is it someone from your staff?" that was a good explanation. After all, Kanon's staff were people older than her. Even a relationship with a 20-year old was kinda bad and dating someone from the staff was worse by far!

However, Kanon shook her head and her mother was stumped.

"Is it someone from far away you've met on one of your tours?"

"No..."

Where else could Kanon meet a boy her age and...

Wait...

"Is he a boy from the school?" Mrs. Nakagawa asked.

Kanon didn't say anything, but she fidgeted visibly.

"Hold on a moment," the older woman remembered something, "today you said a boy tutored you for your exams..." Kanon gulped in response, "and I remember you've said something similar happened a year ago."

"You remember that?" Kanon asked surprised, but Mrs. Nakagawa ignored this question, which was obviously aimed at distracting her.

"I remember it was a boy from your class!" back then Mrs. Nakagawa had been certain the boy tutored Kanon because he had a crush on her, but apparently that wasn't a case.

"Yes," Kanon responded, "he was kinda my first friend in school... and he sometimes helped me with..." Kanon paused to think how to summarize the many consultations she had with Keima when he had been conquering her, "...stuff."

"Wait a moment," Mrs. Nakagawa tried to summarize it, "so he's a boy from your class," Kanon nodded, "who's your friend," another nod, "and who didn't want to date you?"

"Yes," Kanon admitted.

"Why?" the older woman just couldn't understand.

"It's complicated..."

"Is he... gay?"

"Noo!" Kanon replied before sighing, "he actually likes girls a lot..."

"So, he's a playboy?"

"No... though I guess he's popular in a way..." Kanon admitted, "but the thing is he's a gamer, who's kinda into dating sims and stuff..."

Mrs. Nakagawa didn't understand. Don't boys play that kind of games because they can't get a real girlfriend? Who would choose games when confessed to by the likes of her daughter... unless...

"Maybe he doesn't know that you like–"

"I'm really, _really_ , sure he does," Kanon interjected, "and he kinda believes dating an idol would be troublesome..."

"He can't know that!" Mrs. Nakagawa objected.

"Actually, he kinda knows that," Kanon said, remembering the reaction of some fans to her class confession. She still felt bad that Keima had to suffer like that.

"Wait a moment," the older woman remembered another tidbit of information, "is he the one the rumors were all about?"

"There's a lot of rumors and they're all fabricated, pulled out of thin air, basically," Kanon said, but faltered under her mother's gaze. "I guess you could say some rumors have a grain of truth..."

Kanon was just glad the rumors were no longer that specific...

Mrs. Nakagawa observed her daughter. One part of her told her to encourage Kanon to move on. She had hundreds of thousands of fans, so plenty of fish in the sea. And not having a boyfriend could be a better solution after all...

...however, Mrs. Nakagawa could also see the look on her daughter's face which made it quite clear that it wasn't some childish crush. She had no idea just how handsome, cool and amazing this boy was, but he certainly wasn't nobody. It also didn't look as if it was something new or as if Kanon didn't give it a fair amount of thought. No, this was serious and that meant the one-side love like that was unlikely to disappear anytime soon.

It was really ironic... Kanon seemed to have all the population of male teens of Japan at her feet without even as much as trying, yet the one man her heart yearned for remained out of her reach so far.

"So... does that Romeo have a name?" Mrs. Nakagawa asked finally.

"Keima-kun," Kanon responded, clearly not eager to say more.

"Then... will Keima-kun be on that party the day after tomorrow you spoke about?"

"It's not exactly a party. Just a meeting with friends," Kanon explained, "but I guess Keima-kun should be there..."

"Then, it's always a chance, right?" Mrs. Nakagawa said, putting a reassuring hand on her daughter's shoulder, "I want to you to know, honey that whether it's your idol career or your love life, me and your father will always support whichever path you'll choose."

"Thanks," Kanon replied with a small smile, even though she knew things were never so simple when it came to Keima Katsuragi, "it means a lot to me."

Mrs. Nakagawa smiled before she stood up. "Now, off to bed you go, young lady," she said as she used to do when Kanon was younger, "we all know you could use a good night's sleep."

Kanon nodded and her mother left the room.

The idol started to undress herself clumsily, her thoughts still on what her mother said... on Keima... on that so-called party and the kiss thing.

The truth was that after that kiss there was a huge uproar, with the filming crew were acting all rowdy. Somehow, in this commotion Keima-Daisuke had disappeared, as if he vanished in thin air (and Kanon could bet that was exactly what happened). Kanon wanted to investigate, but Okada-san quickly took her away from the crowd and kept a watchful eye on her (and now Kanon knew why – Okada and Kanon's parents were certainly interested in seeing Kanon's reaction to the kiss), preventing the idol from searching for Keima. Thus, the gamer had successfully fled the scene

At first Kanon dreaded to see the reaction of the real Daisuke Nishihara. I mean, he couldn't possibly not realize that something weird occurred, right? However, then something weird happened. Daisuke Nishihara had been found unconscious. Someone said he had fallen from the stairs. However, the strangest thing was that Daisuke seemed to not remember the kiss ('what a surprise', Kanon though) and was _clearly_ disappointed of that as he watched the filmed scene...

...however that apparent amnesia didn't stop the actor from feeling _smug_ about what he _thought_ he had done. Every time he saw Kanon, he tried to approach her and he seemed to be surprised by he glare. Of course, that episode with the kiss hadn't aired yet and there was no major leak, but the situation was still troublesome and Kanon dreaded what would happen when the episode will air and interviews will start. Sigh... she'd have to firmly deny every single rumor... and maybe tell the truth that she actually disliked the guy.

Leaving aside Daisuke himself, Kanon thought as she climbed into her bed, she'd like to understand about Keima. Why did he did what he did? Where did that leave them? What was she supposed to do now?

She didn't get to wonder about any of that, because as soon as her head hit the pillow she fell asleep.

(* * *)

Kanon wouldn't be able to say when was the last time she slept for 10 hours straight like that. Of course, when she woke up she immediately proceeded to get ready and only realized she wasn't in her usual apartment when she almost walked in a wall where the doors should be. Right, this was her day... days off. No interviews, no phone calls.

Nothing.

This should've made the idol happy, but it didn't. It wasn't as she hated her job after all – she loved to reach into people hearts with her songs. The reason for her sullenness was different.

Kanon went to the bathroom where the strangeness of the day off continued – after she brushed her teeth and washing her face she realized there's nothing more to do. There was no need to apply any make-up or style her hair and there was no-one to do it for her either. The only thing was that her hair were a bit disheveled, but nothing a regular comb couldn't handle. A few brushes later it was all done. It wasn't perfect, but Kanon didn't have any need for 'perfect' at the moment.

When she was looking into the mirror it suddenly flashed revealing Apollo wearing less than happy facial expression. It was silent for a moment.

"All right, all right," Kanon said quietly, when she was sure the door to the bathroom were closed, "just say it."

"I've told you so!" Apollo replied a little louder, but she didn't look pleased at all. "What are we going to do now? And I might be wrong, but were you supposed to tell your mother that much?"

"I haven't said anything bad and talking with mom did make me feel a little better," she paused for a moment, "it's obvious what I have to do now. I need to talk with Keima-kun."

"Finally!" Apollo seemed to be pleased. "Then how about calling him right now?"

Kanon sighed. "I don't think that's a good idea..."

"Why not?" the ditzy goddess asked.

"That is much too important to talk over the phone and I have the feeling Keima-kun won't want to talk to me unless I face him," Kanon sighed again, "besides, Keima-kun probably doesn't think too fond of me emailing him... not after all the mountain of mails I've sent him back then..."

"Oookay, then let me think" Apollo uttered the dreaded words and was quiet for several seconds, "the way I see it, the game is up, so you need to go on a frontal attack! All ahead! Let the ship sail!"

Kanon groaned.

"And you could really rent a blimp and convey the power of your feelings that way!"

"No way!" Kanon got closer to the mirror. "Everyone else mustn't know about this! Keima-kun knowing is already bad enough!"

"Why?" Apollo asked confused.

"Well, he can reveal everything!"

"Wouldn't that be kinda bad for him?"

"Yeah, but it would also cause a lot of problems for me!"

"Then maybe–"

"Kanon, honey, are you done?" Mr. Nakagawa's voice sounded from outside the room. "I need to use the bathroom."

"Yeah, I'm going out in a sec," Kanon shouted and then whispered to Apollo, "we'll talk about it later."

(* * *)

After that the day went fairly good – there was a proper cake and everything Kanon excepted. The nice family atmosphere managed to calm Kanon down. Still, the idol could see her mother tossing her passing glances every now and then. She just hoped her mother wouldn't tell anything to her father. The only downside was that the family couldn't really celebrate outdoors – without a heavy coat and a beret to hid her pink bangs, there was no way Kanon could venture outside and have a blast in a theme park or even go to a family restaurant.

Still, all in all it was a very nice day and only when the evening approached Kanon remembered about tomorrow and she started to get nervous. How should she approach the situation? How should she talk with Keima? Would he even let her talk to him?

Kanon sighed.

She just didn't have enough information and calling Keima was not an option. If only there was some other way to get some intel.

Wait... there was such a way!

Kanon pulled out her phone and checked the time. It was quite late, but it was her only option, so she went to her contact list and chose one of the most used ones.

She just hoped that Eri was already in her room by herself.

"Moshi, moshi! Ka–"

"Shhh!" the idol hushed the dark-haired girl before she could reveal who was calling. "It's me. I'm very sorry for calling so late," Kanon started politely, "can you talk now? Is Keima-kun nearby?"

"Nii-sama? No, he's probably gaming," Eri replied. "Is something wrong?"

So this time she didn't ask if this was related to the meeting tomorrow. No matter, it'd be better not to talk for too long, so Kanon immediately got to the point.

"Has Keima-kun been acting strange recently?"

"Strange?" Kanon could picture Eri tilting her brow in an adorable way. "How so?"

"I don't know," the pink-haired girl said vaguely, before becoming more specific, "did he do something aside from playing games? Did he... contact the devils... talk about the party tomorrow or... rehearse lines?"

"I didn't see nii-sama do any of those," Eri said, "but he does reply when I talk about the party."

"Really?" Kanon asked. That sounded surprisingly... tame. Was the situation better than she thought. Well, she didn't really learn much, but no news is good news, right?

"Is something wrong?" Eri asked again. "Is nii-sama supposed to be doing something?"

"Not really," Kanon denied, taking care not to tell a blatant lie. She didn't want to deceive her greatest fan, after all, "anyway, I want to ask you something... Could you... not tell Keima-kun that I called?"

"Not tell nii-sama?" Eri repeated, apparently mulling the idea over, "but nii-sama can be really scary."

"What that has to do with it," Kanon questioned, before sighing, "listen, Eri. It's probably nothing, so it's ok. Keima-kun won't ask anyway, so it shouldn't be too hard to do it."

"I'll try," Eri agreed. Kanon couldn't talk anymore because she heard some movement outside of her room and then there was silence as if someone was listening. "Gotta go, bye, Eri!"

Kanon terminated the call and plopped down on her bed, before she put covered her face with her hand and groaned quietly.

What was that... She was in such rush to learn something, anything and instead she ended up with next to nothing... it almost felt as if she was stalking Keima instead...

Since when did she act like this? Was her control over her feelings that bad? Could she really control her feelings in the first place? It was strange and scary what being in love could do to a person.

Now that she had some free time on her hands she couldn't help but... imagine things – likely scenarios, possible scenarios and even the most absurd ones – letting this warm and fuzzy feeling embrace her and cloud her senses...

No, Kanon thought, shaking her head, getting ahead of herself like that wasn't good. She had to stay focused and keep her eyes on her goal... especially now when her situation was unstable and frankly, not looking good.

Calm down, idol told herself, don't think about distant future. Think about here and now. Think about tomorrow. How are you going to face Keima-kun.

However, here Kanon was alone. Unlike during her work, where she had a trusty stuff to plan her day and took care of most of the small and big hurdles, here she was alone. At this very moment she couldn't really count on anyone. No-one she could be completely honest with and no-one who could help her in any way.

Not her parents, not Eri and not Apollo.

Now she was alone, her only company being her lovesick heart. Alone... without Keima-kun...

"I knew it!" Kanon mumbled trying to stop the hot tears from trailing down her cheeks. "I can't do it, after all!"

She was a maiden in love. She couldn't do what Keima told her to do. She couldn't keep her emotions on a leash or prevent them from gushing.

Love was strong and scary thing... and unrequited love sure sucked...

That was the first day in a long while when it took her over an hour to fall asleep.

(* * *)

"Thank you very much," Kanon said as she got out of the cab after paying for her ride. The taxi driver didn't say anything about the lock of pick hair that was visible from under her beret. Nor did he comment on the fact that the idol destination was the Shiratori household. Looking back on it, it might've been better to tell the taxi driver to drop her somewhere nearby the main gate and then climb the hill herself. It was also a bit surprising that they managed to get past the gate without any problems. Obviously, guests were expected today.

"Excuse me," someone spoke and Kanon turned to see a woman near her thirties who she recognized. Her name was Yanagi, right?

"Good day," the idol said and bowed, after taking off her beret and exposing her distinctive pink hair, "my name is Kanon Nakagawa. I believe I have an appointment for today," she hesitated for a moment, "though I'm a bit early."

"Of course," the other woman said. "Please follow me."

Kanon obeyed and the two of them headed towards the main building as the taxi drove off. From the look on Yanagi's face and personal experience Kanon had a feeling she'd end up giving her autograph before they went indoors and she was right.

Soon after that Kanon left her suffocating coat and beret, revealing the clothes underneath – a simple white T-shirt with a picture of an apple wrapped in a ribbon with a matching "Apple Ribbon" text underneath and a knee-length pleated skirt. It was a really plain look compared to her usual stage appearance, but this was exactly the point. Today she wasn't a national idol with perfect (even if delicate) make-up and fancy clothes, singing for the crowds. Today she was just a teenage bespectacled girl (who just happens to have a pink hair), having a meeting with her new-found friends.

Finally, they entered one of the smaller rooms, which was still rather big. The first thing Kanon noticed (before she even stepped into the room) were the sounds that were coming from a small radio or music player placed on one of the cupboards. It was "Door of Miracles" – one of the songs Kanon performed with some other singers some time ago.

"Kanon-chan?" someone voice brought the idol back to reality. She had expected to see Urara and sure the other girl was the one who spoke, but she wasn't alone as Kanon had expected.

"Yui-san? Aoyama-san?" Kanon exclaimed when she saw the cross-dresser wearing obviously male pants and the short blonde in a rather short skirt, before she remembered abut her manners and turned to Urara, who was wearing a pink camisole, bowing slightly, "good day, Shiratori-san."

"Good day. And 'Urara' is fine," the Shiratori heiress replied, "anyway, you're quite early, aren't you? We haven't expected anyone for at least another half an hour."

"I wanted to help with the preparations..."

"Nonsense," Urara stopped her, "you're one of the people this party is for, so why should you help? Helping is their job," Urara pointed at Mio and Yui, "right?"

"Yeah, yeah," Mio replied and Yui just smiled. Kanon wanted to oppose further, but Mio whispered 'just give it a rest' as she passed by her, so she gave up.

"Just relax and we'll get this hen party ready," Yui promised.

"Hen party?" the remaining 3 girls questioned.

"What about Keima-kun?" Kanon asked, panic lacing her words. Did... did he decide not to come here today because of what happened, "he isn't coming today?"

"Of course he is!" Yui replied, "he can participate in a hen party as long as he wears a dress-OUCH!" the cross-dresser complained when Mio hit her on the head with a metal tray. "What was that for? Urara-chan, did you see that?"

"Good girl," Urara patted Mio on the head affectionately, before walking off.

"Nooo, Urara-chan you traitor!" Yui exclaimed, nursing the bump on her head.

"Hey, don't do that!" Mio said as she brushed her hair, as if trying to smoothen what Urara has messed up, but there was a hint of pink on her cheeks.

Those three are weird, Kanon concluded.

(* * *)

Some time after that people started to gather. First were Ayumi and Chiihro, followed by Tsukiyo and Shiori and then...

"Kanon-chan!" it was the excited voice of Eri, who came with Keima (Kanon's heart skipped a beat) and... Tenri? Well, her and Keima were neighbors, so it was natural... sort of...

Her thoughts were interrupted, 'cause Eri was next to her and literally a step away from jumping on her and embracing her.

"Hello, Eri," Kanon told Eri with a smile, before she turned to the other two. "Hello, Keima-kun, Tenri-chan."

"Hello," Tenri said meekly, her shyness second only to Shiori, but Kanon was more interested in Keima's reaction, though a bit scared to make eye contact. She never learned of his reaction. however, the reason being Yui.

"Keima-kun," the drummer said cheerfully, waving a dress. Keima certainly reacted to that – he blinked before turning around and walking away.

"She's joking!" Urara caught Keima's arm and dragged him back. "Yui's just joking!"

"Let go off me!" Keima paled, seemingly more concerned with Urara than Yui.

"Keima-kun looks cuter in a dress though," Yui complained.

"I'd like to see that if that's true," Chihiro teased with a smirk, earning a glare from Keima

"What's wrong with you, reals?!" the gamer exclaimed, red in the face, Tenri trying to calm him down. Was it just Kanon or was the raven-haired girl a bit too close to Keima?

Finally, the last two people – Kusunoki and Minami – arrived and it was hard to say which one looked more flustered. The two of them, along with Kanon, were the main guests, after all.

(* * *)

"So, now that everyone is here I want to welcome all of you," Urara said, holding a folded newspaper to her face like a microphone. "Especially, I would like to welcome our two successful graduates," she pointed to Minami and Kusunoki, who were seated at the top of the table. The martial artist was somehow used to formal atmosphere, but Minami certainly couldn't deal with the attention and seemed to shrink into her chair, "let's congratulate them with a round of applause!"

Applause followed and Kanon noticed that Minami turned even redder when she noticed Keima gave her a small smile. Her thoughts were interrupted by Urara.

"Finally, I'd like to welcome our birthday girl," the girl pointed to Kanon "which means it's time for a song!"

Everyone stood up and a chorus of voices sang "Happy birthday to you!" and Kanon felt touched. It was weird how 10 people could made her feel the same like a dome holding thousands of her fans. In the meantime, Urara quickly fetched a really big birthday cake, completed with 17 candles. And it would be a second cake in two days for Kanon. Considering this and the amount of food on the table, she might need to go for a looong run after this party was over.

"Now, make a wish!"

Kanon didn't have any problem with that part.

"All right!" Urara apparently felt good in the role of the hostess. She certainly didn't seem as lady-like as Kanon remembered her from Keima's memories. Then again, she was a small kid back then. "Now it's time for presents!"

"Aaah..." Kanon started nervously, "I've told you you don't have to give me any presents..."

"Aaah... my bad" Urara said in theatrical voice, "don't worry. I told everyone to not prepare anything big... but I can't guarantee that everyone listened," she winked, "anyway, here's a present from me and Tsukiyo," she finished, retrieving a rather large package from under the table.

"You said it wasn't anything big," Kanon said. And where had it come from? It was empty under the table a moment before? Was it Vulcan's magic?

"It isn't really," Tsukiyo chimed in, "well, how about you open it?"

Kanon reluctantly did so and found out... a set of clothes. Fancy, hella cute and very idol-y clothes.

"We thought you could wear them on stage sometimes," Urara explained, "I helped with the materials. And Tsukiyo came up with design. She's really a designer's daughter."

Tsukiyo shook her head. Probably because her relationship with her mother wasn't the greatest.

"It looks really nice," Kanon bowed, "thank you very much."

"No time for that," the ever fast Ayumi said, turning to Chihiro, "it's time for 2-B pencils present, though Miyako kinda doesn't know it's _really_ a thing," the runner turned to Chihiro, "come one."

However, the band leader seemed uncertain to say the least.

"I don't know," Chihiro glanced at the clothes Urara and Tsukiyo had gotten. "You know what, I actually think it's a bad idea-"

"Nonsense," Yui said cheerfully, taking a small package from Chihiro's hand and tossing it over to Kanon, "here."

Kanon unpacked the thing while Ayumi and Yui stopped Chihiro from taking it away.

"A CD case?" Kanon said puzzled, before her eyes widened, "are those your new songs? You're making an album?"

"No, it's too early for that," Ayumi said, not needing to hold back Chihiro anymore, as the other girl was looking away, red-faced and sweating bullets, "it's covers of all of your songs made by our band!"

"Really?" Kanon said enthusiastically before proceeding to hug each and ever band member present. "Thank you so much! I'm sure it's great!"

"You're acting way too familiar," Chihiro mumbled, "next thing we know you're going to give us backstage invitations."

"Hehe, anytime you want," Kanon said, smiling went Chihiro went red again and Ayumi and Eri had to fan her to prevent her from fainting.

Next was time for Kusunoki.

"Well, my and aneue's gift is more practical," the martial artist started, "I mean aneue did suggest some other practical gift but... anyway here," Kusunoki handed the idol a small package while blushing for some reason.

"Is it a stun gun?" Kanon wondered when she opened the box, "but it's small and I already have plenty-"

"Oh, aneue assured me that this is not just a mere stun gun, but a newest model of the highest quality," Kusunoki explained, "it has several additional functions and it is easy to carry and employ. And do not let its small size deceive you – it is rather powerful too."

Kanon thanked for the present and turned to the next pair. However, neither Shiori nor Minami seemed to work the courage to speak properly.

"Here... this," Shiori finally managed holding a middle-sized package to Kanon, making visible care not to impose or even touch Kanon, as if a riff-raff like her was not worthy of being so close to the famous idol.

"Oh, so it's a book," Kanon said as she unpacked it, but stopped when she got a better look.

It was a book, but it was kinda weird. Like unique and hand-made, certainly not something mass-printed. And the authors were 'Shiori Shiomiya' and 'Minami Ikoma'.

"You _wrote_ a book for me?" Kanon asked in surprise.

"Aah... it's just a collection of poets... I-I mean poems," Shiori stuttered out before shutting up in shame.

"W-we... heard you like poems," Minami managed barely above a whisper, "those are mostly based on your songs."

In response Kanon hugged both girls at once. "Thank you! I'll be sure to read through it all with great care!"

Finally, Kanon turned to the last group of people. It seemed Keima prepared a gift together with Tenri (which irked Kanon for some unexplainable reason). Not to mention that Kanon had a feeling that Keima had been observing her closely all this time, even though right now he was looking at his sister... who was also standing near. Did Eri also prepare that gift? But she was part of 2-B pencils, so she had already given Kanon a gift, right?

"Here, Kanon-chan!" Eri said happily as she handed her another middle-sized package. Was it another book? "Me, nii-sama and Tenri-san worked really hard on it."

Keima mumbled something that sounded deceptively similar to 'most of the work was preventing you from messing it up' and Tenri let out a small giggle.

Kanon unpacked the present and it was indeed some book. It was titled "Kanon Nakagawa, the shining star". Kanon had an idea what it could be.

"What is it?" Yui as usual didn't give pay much attention to personal space and looked over Kanon's shoulder. Others followed her example and gathered to look. Even Kusunoki discretly craned her neck to see better.

The book was a photo album of sorts or an illustrated biography of Kanon's career, obviously put together using Eri's love, Tenri's hard work and Keima's skill. The pages were detailing her songs, concerts, travels, dramas and all important career milestones. It would be a fairly regular home-made photo album, except...

"Whoa!" Chihiro exclaimed. "Is it just me..."

"or are the pictures... moving?" Ayumi finished her best friend's thought.

Indeed, while the text stayed put as one would expect it to, the pictures didn't. Instead, they were constantly changing, playing scenes relevant to each album entry. It was as if someone made a website with a lot of embedded videos and displayed it on a tablet... except it wasn't a tablet.

"I've seen something like that," Urara said in excited voice.

"Where?" Tsukiyo asked, curious.

"In a western movie about wizards and magic," the Shiratori heiress explained, "they had this big castle and the people in the pictures would move all the time!"

"Magic?" Kanon repeated before it clicked. "Of course, Diana-san helped to make it!"

Tenri nodded, smiling.

"Magic and moving pictures in a book?" Shiori mused out aloud, not sure whether she should consider that a book desecration or not... well, she could still flip pages... and smell the paper... so it was... ok, she guessed?

Kanon's opinion was less critical.

"This, is great," the idol said, while flipping the pages. She stopped on one portraying Kanon singing a cover of "Full of Memories". And the very first line of lyrics for that song was...

'Many memories hidden inside an old album.'

Yes, this album might not be old, but it sure is full of many hidden memories, some of them more hidden than others, Kanon thought, as she watched at the video after her concert at the dome, the one right after she had kissed Keima. And then there were pages describing some activities where Kanon was acting... weird. That was certainly from the time Eri substituted for her. Oh, how thankful she was for that, Kanon thought feeling tears start to form in the corner of her eyes.

This gift... all of those gifts... were all very personal and literally moved her to tears.

Finally, she got to the last page... and instantly slammed the book shut, her face going red in panic a bit.

"Kanon-chan?" Eri titled her head. "Is something wrong?"

"No," the idol replied weakly, before bowing, "thank you very much, all of you. I'll be sure to study that album later at home!"

"Well, said," Urara said, before smiling and clasping her hands together. "So... who's hungry?"

A chorus of "me!" followed and everyone went in the direction of the table. Kanon was smiling on the outside, but on the inside she was nervous.

It didn't help that the last "video" in the album was a scene from her drama series: a scene of Maron and Hayate kissing.

That episode hasn't aired yet, but that wasn't all what was troubling Kanon.

What was troubling her was that the video wasn't like the one Kanon saw on tape. It wasn't Daisuke who was kissing her there.

It was Keima.

And on top of that Kanon could feel a pricking sensation on the skin of her nape.

She was being watched...

 **(* * *)**

 **So here you have it. Kanon spends some time with her parents and then there comes the party... and the chapter is cut before it can start for real... As I said before, this chapter was supposed to have more events, but I cut it short. In result, not everything had been explained and some things about Keima-Kanon-Daisuke "triangle" are still hanging in the air.  
**

 **As for Kanon's parents... well, I had to introduce them, but at the same time I didn't want to come up with too much. Here I came up with their occupations and such, but there's a lot that's still a lot of things that are still blank. Like their names. So... I have a request of sorts. If you have any suggestions about Kanon's parents (especially their names), than please leave them in a review or PM.**

 **And then there are presents for Kanon. Seriously, while I'm happy with what I came up with, it took me a lot of time to come up with those ideas. Long story short: the next birthday party I'll probably just say "all presents were awesome". Wait... next one will be ShioriNomi, so all presents will be books xD. Anyway, tell me what you think of those presents. :)**

 **In this chapter Apollo is referred to as "ditzy". I was like 'is it really a good word here? Do I even remember what it means?"... so I checked the definition of 'ditzy' in the dictionary. It said: "silly and not reliable". Yup, that's Apollo...**

 **I had to rewrite Yanagi and Kanon scene after I realized that they already know each other from the time in the manga when Yanagi drove Kanon and Yui to Shiratori household.**

 **As a side note, I was doing research on character clothes and is it just me or a lot of girls (like Ayumi, Chihiro, Mio, Kusunoki) wear really short skirts at school. This is particularly weird for Mio and Kusunoki.**

 **Maybe you've noticed, but I'm playing with anxiety/jealousy side of Kanon here. If this goes south we might even see some slight yandere in the near future.**

 **Well, I think it's everything for now.**

 **See you next time!**


	5. Flag 68: Confrontation

**Hello, everyone!**

 **I'm so back! And I'm so late! And I'm sorry for that...  
**

 **This might be the longest break I've made since I started KamiNomiNai, though I'm not exactly certain.**

 **Well, as you have probably noticed some of my time since the last chapter was spent writing another story which resulted in a Jun two-shot. However, even without that, this chapter was really hard to write for several reasons. I guess it's better to talk about it after you've read the chapter.**

 **Anyway, as usual I'd like to thank every single one of my readers for all the support for this and all my other stories! Here are the replies to the reviews for the last chapter.  
**

 **ZelgadisGW:** yay for Kanon's mom and family time! I'm glad you liked the presents. Heh, it's a nice album there, Kanon. It'd be a shame if someone were to see it. P.S. Kanon… Kanon… Kanon… xD

 **Ghost Man:** of course she wasn't *hiding Kanon's mom's secret agent license*. About Kusunoki's gift, too bad we can't see just how powerful it is. I wonder if it was Tenri who put that last picture there… :P Your review method is fine, so don't worry. I enjoyed it :).

 **NiteyNite:** good to know I have such dedicated readers! :) Ridiculous! I'm not throwing any bombs! *takes his finger off the 'missile launch' button*. Well, the Block side is strong and clouds all, but I managed to pull through!

 **Nepcom Noire:** thank you for the sympathy! For now it's not that bad, as some of the issues were actually put on hold due to some stuff happening… but the next few weeks might be really troublesome. I do hope it won't interfere too much with my writing though.

 **Sir Sleeps-a-lot:** damn, that's a long review. Yup, you got the references right. Also, Xellos540, distracting the reviewers since 2017! xD *imagining the interior of your car in all rainbow colors* Yeah, Keima, how stupid can you possibly be! I wonder what a natural habitat for Kanon actually is xD. *gives you a hug* And yay for fanfiction fuel! Yup, I'd like such present-choosing skills. Ok, breathe in and out, slowly xD. Nah, Kanon tased you 'cause she wanted the presents for herself! I wonder about that Daisuke thing though…

 **Firefoxmonik:** yes, this can be excused :P. Well, design for Kanon's parents was a little difficult, so I'm kinda happy with the result, even if it isn't much. Lol, I see Daisuke is really loved in the fandom xD. Well, it's not exactly "birthday events", more like "evens with multiple girls". And yeah, it posted alright. And you're welcome!

 **G** **ueetion:** sorry, but I have pretty much no idea what you're talking about…

 **ElSasori69:** Chiaki and Tasuku, huh? I'm very tempted to use that, though Karen and Keita sound nice too. And the entire family would be K-something too :P. Anyway, thank you very much for the idea!

 **Okay, I think that's everything I wanted to say for now. Onto the chapter!**

 **Enjoy!**

 **(* * *)**

After Kanon had received her presents, the group moved to the table. At first, everyone told Urara that she overdid it, but soon after that they were enjoying the various dishes and foods.

"It seems I'll have to have a looong running session to burn all the calories from today," Ayumi said as she took a bite of another pastry, but she wasn't looking sad at all, "and you too," she said to Chihiro.

"It's okay," the normal girl said back, "it's my cheat day."

"Bad yorh chead-" Yui said before Mio, who was sitting right next to her, elbowed her.

"Don't talk with your mouth full!" the blonde scolded.

"Geez, you sound like my mother!" Yui said when she swallowed.

"I don't care if you dress as a woman or a man, but act like a person of your status! Like some other people," Mio said as she looked appreciatively at Tsukiyo, who was elegantly sipping her tea.

"But it's so uptight!" the drummer complained and Tsukiyo twitched.

"Good manners don't mean you have to be uptight," Mio argued, "look at Urara!"

The girl in question immediately straightened her back and slowed down her eating, pink dusting her cheeks. A few of the girls, including Kanon, smiled. Indeed, Urara was a weird one, especially compared with her 7 year-old self. She could still act as a refined lady, but rarely did so, probably something having to do with her stay overseas.

"Anyway, as I was saying, your cheat day is on Sunday, Chihiro," Yui reminded her, but the band leader shrugged.

"I have two cheat days," the normal girl said simply.

"Lucky you," Kusunoki remarked, scanning the plates and bowls on the table in search for her next prey, while Minami and Shiori nodded her heads in silent agreement.

Ayumi just shook her head, but said nothing.

Eri was unmoving, staring at her dish which was simple rice with red sauce on top arranged in a shape of a firetruck and the girl was apparently reluctant to destroy the image by eating it.

Someone suggested a karaoke and soon after that the music was playing while various girls were taking turns, trying to play Kanon's songs. Some girls however refused to take part in it (Shiori immediately shrunk and pretended she wasn't there the moment the karaoke idea was announced), some while some had to be stopped from taking part ("I'm a goddess of arts! Why can't I sing a single tune!?").

Kanon didn't sing. She was the jury, which was a little embarrassing. She also didn't want to take any side. Fortunately, the results were obvious – while some girls certainly had singing practice (mainly Chihiro and Ayumi) and some others had surprisingly clear and good voices (even if they had trouble following the reason), the victory was certainly Eri's. The female Katsuragi had not only remembered Kanon's lyrics and choreography, but could also mimic the idol's voice, making her performance of "All 4 you" a sight to behold.

Two hours and three karaoke rounds later the party was much more lively. Some girls took turns checking out Kanon's gifts (although the idol took special care to keep her new stun gun and her magical album out of anyone's hands). Honestly speaking, Kanon had a lot of fun, talking and joking with everyone, which was a new thing to her.

Of course, she had thousand of fans, but this was different. Here she, for the most part, wasn't an idol. She didn't have to sing, wear make-up or take off her glasses to be noticed. She had never had so many friends who were that close to her before.

Kanon disliked parties... at least the usual ones, because this... this was really something she could get used to. Guess the right people and simple fun instead of business atmosphere of the parties she usually attended made all the difference...

"By the way," Yui said at some point as she looked at everyone present, "don't you think we're missing some people?"

"Now that you mention it, I don't see the rāmen girl " Ayumi mused.

"Umm... I think there was also that other girl who plays shōgi, I think her name was Nanaka," Minami added quietly.

"I invited both of them though," Urara said in thought, "in fact, I extended the invitation to Hinoki-san as well..."

"And thank heavens my sister couldn't be here," Kusunoki sighed in relief.

"Why?" Yui wondered. "I'm sure it would be even nicer with your sister here."

"Maybe for you," the martial artist replied. If Hinoki were here she would definitely use the opportunity to embarrass her in front of everyone.

"As for Sumire-san, she said she'll try to come, but she apparently couldn't," Urara continued.

"I doubt it's that, " Mio replied to that and everyone looked at her, "my bet would be that she didn't want to come."

"What do you mean, Mio-san?" Eri questioned in her innocent voice and Mio send her a sharp gaze, apparently not too happy with the first name basis, "who wouldn't want to come to Kanon-chan's birthday!? It's insane!"

"You're exaggerating," Kanon replied, blushing. It's not like everyone here came because of her – this party was also for Kusunoki and Minami. Kanon wasn't even sure why Tsukiyo was here, as the girl didn't seem very social and might've been dragged here by Shiori, who was too scared to come here alone.

As for Keima, Kanon was conflicted. On one hand, the old Keima would never care. On the other hand, the new Keima was different. Yes, Keima Katsuragi might not be the most sensitive and social person in the world, but he was vastly different from the cold, insensitive loner he used to be. It was hard to pinpoint the differences with words, but Kanon could just feel that Keima has grown. They all could feel it.

However, on yet another hand, the very recent Keima was a mystery...

"My point," Mio took up, "is that both of those girls felt nervous about coming here."

"What do you mean?" Yui asked, "why would they be nervous among their friends?"

"I think you're overestimating their relation to us," Mio said and, when Yui gave her a confused look, she sighed, "you are a goddess host, a drummer in a band and a friend of me and Urara," the blonde said as she crossed her arms over her small chest. "so you are close with a lot of us here and you are outgoing... but not everyone here is like that," the blonde finished, looking over others.

It seemed her words were met with agreement as Tsukiyo nodded her head, while Shiori hid her face behind some book she got from god knows where. Chihiro bit her lip and Tenri looked nervous. Ayumi took another bit of her cake.

"So you're basically saying that we're not as close as a group? At least not all of us?" Urara summarized.

"That's right," Mio said with a smile, apparently pleased with herself.

"Wow, I never knew you were so smart, Mio!" Yui exclaimed happily.

"What do you mean by that!?" the blonde replied, her whip already in her hands.

"But that would mean that the ones with the least connections to everyone else would be the least comfortable here, right?" Urara went on, before looking at Kusunoki and Minami. The former was, or at least looked, calm and just a tad nervous, while the latter looked as if she wanted to disappear. Apparently the freshly-graduated middle schooler was overwhelmed by being in the same group with a famous idol, Shiratori heiress and the hosts of literal goddesses, despite being seated close to Tenri and Shiori.

"That explains the rāmen girl a bit, but what about the shōgi girl?" Chihiro asked as she ate a potato chip. "Isn't she friends with Ayukawa-san as well?" she asked as she turned to Tenri.

"Aah... Nanaka-san said she was heading to see her family in France..." the shy teen replied.

"It's a good excuse then," Ayumi said.

"Nah," Chihiro shook her head, "that shōgi addict didn't seem like a shy person. I think she'd be fine here."

"Still, we could invite more people," Eri said.

"Like who?" Kanon asked.

"Well," Eri started, "there's Nagase-sensei and Nikaidō-sensei-"

"No! No! No!" Chihiro immediately said. "I know this is a school graduation party and stuff, but we don't need teachers!"

"You make it sound as if we're doing something illegal here!" Ayumi scolded her best friend, before continuing. "But I kinda agree, with Chihiro here."

"Still, there's Rimyuel-neesama, Haqua... and Nora-san," Eri finished, her voice much less energetic than the one she was using before.

It was quiet for a moment, with several girls exchanging glances.

"You're right," Urara admitted, "I should've invited them too..."

"Well, it's not like we can contact them easily, right?" Kusunoki said with her regular composure, but even in her voice one could sense a bit of guilt, "and I'm not sure they would want to come. They're not really connected to anyone outside of Eri-san, anyway."

"Well, they're connected to nii-sama," Eri stated as if this was the most obvious thing in the word.

All remaining girls looked at each other, Eri's words reminding them the crucial person that connected all of them together.

Keima Katsuragi.

All girls here, even if they weren't connected with each other directly, they were still connected by Keima. It wouldn't be a stretch to say that they were here because of him. It was because of him that the girls here were acquaintances or, in many cases, friends.

Yui coughed.

"Speaking of Keima-kun," she started, "it's been some time since he went to the toilet... maybe I should go check-"

"Absolutely not!" Ayumi kicked the drummer lightly on her shin under the table, "he'll be fine! He doesn't need you there!"

"Hey, don't say it as if were to enter the toilet with Keima-kun!" Yui defended herself, not seeing the horrified looks on some faces, most notably Shiori's and Minami's, "I have enough experience with knowing how guys do it and-"

"Okay, too much information, waaay too much information!" Chihiro said, waving her hands, while Shiori and Minami were trying to hide behind the same book.

"Speaking of Keima," Urara chimed in a hushed voice and leaned forward, "what do you think of him?" she asked, addressing everyone present.

Her voice was barely above a whisper, but in the following silence it resounded like a thunder.

"Huh? What do you mean?" Yui was the first to regain her composure... or maybe she simply didn't lose it...

"Well, this conversation reminded me that I kinda feel like an outsider to be honest," Urara continued with less courage now when all eyes were trained at her, "I mean, even with the memories and stuff, I still didn't get to know Keima the way you did..."

"I get it," Yui interrupted, "you want to know how kissing fee-"

*THUD*

"As I was saying," Urara continued a moment later, completely ignoring Yui nursing a bump on her head, "for me Keima is someone who saved my grandfather, but I wonder if my opinion of him is too high... so since almost all of us is here and Keima is not... I kinda wanted to ask what do you honestly think about him..."

After a moment of silence it was Eri who broke the silence.

"I love, nii-sama," she stated simply, earning a lot of gazes with her innocent statement.

"And Katsuragi should be thankful for that," Chihiro immediately responded, but blushed when the stares turned to her, "I-I mean you're obligated to love your real siblings, but when your adopted sister loves you then you should be grateful for that!"

"Maybe," a quiet voice piped in and everyone looked at Minami, who seemed so in thought that she didn't shrink when attention turned to her, "maybe Katsuragi-senpai simply deserves it."

"Yup, because he's totally not a pretentious arrogant liar," Mio said sarcastically.

"Funny," Kusunoki smiled, "once upon a time that could be used to describe you, Aoyama-san."

"Don't say it like that!" Mio's faced reddened.

"Like what?" Yui asked.

"Like me and Katsuragi are similar!"

"I think it's obvious that Keima was definitely a scheming, unruly and creepy person," Tsukiyo joined the conversation, "but I think it's also obvious that he has changed... we all have..."

"Keima-kun was sorta always like that though," Tenri said, "it's just..."

"That it was only in his gaming world," Shiori finished quietly.

There was another moment of silence.

"Well, I certainly think that Keima still can be arrogant, insensitive and creepy," Ayumi said as she popped a candy into her mouth, "but I can also agree that he's a fairly decent person."

"Decent?" Yui eyed the guitarist in surprise. "He's a freaking genius! Girl, he saved the world! Is there anything he can't do if he tries? And he's handsome too!"

"Well, there's at least one thing he can't do," Ayumi continued, "that is: understand a woman's heart. And I mean a real woman."

"Wouldn't be so certain about that," Yui winked.

"You really like him," Urara said as if she just realized it.

"Yup!" the drummer confirmed happily. "How about you?"

"Don't be ridiculous!" was the girl's answer. "Why would I like him?"

"Nii-sama's amazing," Eri said quietly as in response.

"Your opinion on him is definitely too high," Chihiro shook her head, "I still think he doesn't deserve such a cute sister."

There was some nods, but nobody said anything more. Kanon was listening to all that with fear slowly, but surely surging in her. Especially when she saw many faces dust with pink as the conversation went on.

Everyone literally leaped into air when the doors slid open a few seconds later and Keima walked into the room. He probably could sense that something was amiss, because he stopped to look around.

"What's going on?" he asked.

"Nothing," Kusunoki replied with a perfect poker face.

"We were just missing you, Keima-kun!" Yui smiled happily at him.

"Hmpf! Speak for yourself," Mio looked away.

Keima just rolled his eyes and walked to the table.

"You're in my seat," he told Ayumi, who had changed places to talk with Chihiro during his absence.

"There's a place for you here!" Urara pointed to the empty spot between her and Kanon, making the idol flinch.

Keima turned, looking to where the girl was pointing. Then for a briefest of moments his gaze switched to Kanon, before focusing on Urara.

"I'm not sitting next to you," Keima told the Shiratori heiress, before taking a seat between Minami and Tenri who both visibly blushed.

"And what is that supposed to mean?" Urara asked as she crossed her arms over her chest.

"I'd rather stay fully clothed," Keima said and Urara sent him a glare Ayumi and Tsukiyo would be proud of.

"We're not talking about that!" Mio half-shouted her face red from both anger and embarrassment. Just as Urara she wasn't too comfortable with remembering the "naked Keima Katsuragi" episode of her life 10 years ago.

"Why not?" Yui piped up. "I wouldn't mind-AWW!" her sentence was interrupted when Mio elbowed her in the ribs again, much stronger this time.

"Seriously!" the blonde started. "Don't you ever turn that masculine side of yours off!?"

"When I sleep?" the mannish girl said back, massaging her sore side, "It's not like I have a switch or a button to turn it off, you know?"

"I think you do," Tsukiyo joined the conversation, "it's the 'call' button in your phone... right after you select your mother's number."

The table burst out laughing. Ayumi was holding her stomach and rolling with Chihiro not far behind her. Shiori and Tenri giggled and even Tsukiyo and Kusunoki let out a chuckle.

"Hey, it's not funny!" Yui protested, but the laughter continued.

Kanon smiled with everyone, but soon the mood passed and they were back to the party, which mostly included eating, drinking, telling stories, embarrassing people, trying to get more quiet girls to talk more, tease Keima about his games or Chihiro coming up with a new joke or idea whenever it was getting boring.

Kanon, however, had trouble relaxing and was on her guard instead.

She had been suspecting it from the very first moment, but now she was certain. The person who was watching her was no-one else but Keima and it made her feel uneasy. It was a feeling she had never really experienced before, especially because she had spent a good part of her life seeking attention rather than avoiding it.

And it was so different than the attention she had gotten before. Unlike as with her fans, there was no apparent admiration and unlike as with that devil girl Fiore, there was no apparent feeling of danger either.

No, the way Keima was observing Kanon seemed basically neutral to her and the greatest example of this was that the idol couldn't catch the boy in the act. Whenever Kanon would gaze at the gamer he wouldn't be looking at her nor would it look as if he had turned away suddenly. It was as if he was observing her from the corner of his eye or without the need for eyesight at all.

At this point Kanon was so tensed up that the feeling of being watched didn't leave her even when Keima was obviously not looking at her. The only reason Kanon was certain it was from him was because the feeling definitely stopped when Keima had gone to the toilet.

Normally Kanon would be happy to have Keima's attention, but not this time. Then again, what if Keima wasn't really acting weird and it was all in her head? Maybe she was becoming paranoid because of this entire situation?

It just didn't make sense!

Once more: Keima had impersonated Daisuke Nishihara during her drama shooting and had kissed her. And then he had walked away. No explanation, no nothing. Moreover, it was pretty obvious that he now knew about her intentions towards him, which meant he should react to it in some way, right?

And yet he didn't act either way – he didn't seem to be actively avoiding her, but he wasn't confronting her either. He wasn't talking to her on his own, but he was responding when she talked to him, acting more or less like the Keima Kanon knew.

So why was he watching her? Was he worried about her? Was he angry with her? Was he... intrigued...? Curious...? Reciprocating? Well, Kanon would like for the last one to be true, but she wasn't that naive. However, that didn't get Kanon closer to figuring out Keima's behavior. Her best shot was that he tried to act as if nothing happened and was watching her in case she wanted to try something.

Gah! Just what kind of game was he playing here!?

Thus, the party went on and Kanon felt torn inside. On one hand the party was definitely better than what she had been expecting. On the other hand, it filled her with anxiety and feeling of helplessness.

What was she supposed to do now? Copy Keima's behavior and act like nothing happened? Somehow that didn't seem like a viable option anymore... No, Keima knew now and, if Kanon's own observation was correct, the other girls might not stay passive for very long.

She needed to act now...

(* * *)

Kanon decided to seize the first opportunity she got, which the idol figured would be after the party ended. She would just need to confront Keima-kun and prevent him from ignoring her, but she couldn't just ask him to talk in front of everyone like this, so she had to wait till he was alone and that could be tricky because of Eri and Tenri. Moreover, Kanon hadn't predicted one thing – casual party or not, she was still a top idol, so she had actually trouble separating from other people and she did end up giving some autographs, especially to Minami, who apparently finally worked up the courage to ask for it. It wasn't a complete waste though, she had learned that Eri would be going somewhere with Chihiro, Ayumi and Yui, so the only one who would be accompanying Keima would be Tenri.

When Kanon was finally free, she jogged down the way leading from the heart of the compound to the main gate. After some time she spotted someone in front of her, just ahead of the main gate. However, the number of people didn't match.

"Tenri-san?" Kanon asked when she was close enough.

The dark-haired teen let out a small "eep!" before she turned around. "Kanon-san?" she asked in surprise.

"Is Keima-kun not going back with you?" Kanon asked. "You two are neighbors and all," she added before she could bite her tongue.

"Ah... Keima-kun said he wasn't going back yet," Tenri responded simply.

"Isn't it weird though?" Kanon mused. "I-I mean, I thought he'd want to rush back to his house to play games."

To her surprise Tenri giggled. "Keima-kun can play games everywhere. Besides," she let out another giggle, "being weird fits Keima-kun."

Kanon looked at the other girl curiously. Tenri had been always a girl who seemed to accept Keima the way he was, would always defend him in an argument and wouldn't try to change him. She was also one of the very few who could understand or see through him to that extent.

Kanon had to admit – she envied that skills...

"Um... I'm going in that direction," Tenri said once they had passed the main gate, making Kanon realize they had walked in silence for a moment.

"I see, then see you later," Kanon waved a little stiffly. She was used to strangers, fans and official business meetings. She was also more or less used to Keima and people like Chihiro or Yui, but talking with people 'in between' like Tenri was still a little awkward.

No, it was not the time to think about that! She was on a mission here!

Kanon waited for Tenri to walk away, before she turned around and started heading back to the compound. How did she miss Keima-kun? She was sure he had left the compound! And more importantly, how she was going to find him now?

Unless...

"Apollo," Kanon whispered after making sure no-one was nearby.

"What's up?" was the not-so-quiet response from her own shadow.

"I think I need some _divine_ intervention," the idol muttered.

"Finally!" Apollo replied. "But to tell you the truth, I've been doing divinations for a while now and-"

"Not that," Kanon interrupted her, "can you make me invisible? And sustain it while you're flying?"

"Easy-peasy!" the goddess responded. "I shouldn't keep it for long though. Oh, and I'll need to switch places with you."

"Just find where Keima-kun is," Kanon asked, "I'll take it from there."

(* * *)

"Couldn't you just call him?" Apollo asked after a while. Honestly, flying all over quite a vast area covered with trees in search of a single non-magical person was the most boring thing the ditzy goddess did in quite a while.

'Keima-kun could be avoiding me and refuse to tell me where he is," Kanon replied patiently.

"Alright, alright, I get it! Geez..." Apollo whined, but then she finally saw what she was looking for. She flew over there and landed gracefully and switched back with Kanon, but not before making the idol visible and giving her a quiet "good luck, go get him!"

The place surprised Kanon as it was one she kinda recognized. It was the hill where the graves of Urara's parents were located. Kanon had no idea why Keima was here. True, the graves were cleaned and adorned with fresh flowers, so Urara probably won't bet coming here today. Keima himself was also situated a little further down from the top of the hill, past a small cliff, lying on the grassy slope, hidden from everyone and seemingly enjoying the view.

And there was a lot to see!

It was not evening yet, so the city was bathed in the sun, making it truly a wonderful look. Moreover, the surrounding trees blocked some of the sunlight, shielding them from being blinded by the sun, while still letting through dozens of speckles of light. The scenery was complete with a gentle breeze which made the leaves rustle and dance, resulting in the light speckles moving constantly.

The compound itself was located on the outskirts of the city and elevated above the surrounding land, so from where Kanon was one had a perfect view on the more calm part of the city, including the residential area, the beach and the small bay between the headland where Maijima Private High School was located and the larger cape containing Aibi city.

However, as nice as the view was, Kanon didn't come here to admire it. Once again, she was on a mission.

She quietly walked closer to where Keima was, approaching him from above, so he couldn't see and, hopefully, hear her yet. She couldn't see his face too well from here to be honest. And she kinda didn't want to disturb him, 'cause the scene was looking really serene even if a little bit melancholic. For a moment she thought about just walking away from here, but shook her head. She had to do this. She quietly took a breath and spoke.

"It's quite a view."

Truth be told, Kanon didn't really expect Keima to be surprised very much, but she had expected some immediate reaction. Instead, Keima remained silent for a few seconds, prompting Kanon to lean closer to see if he wasn't wearing earpieces or something.

"It is indeed," the boy said so softly that Kanon barely caught it.

If the gamer's aim was to confuse Kanon then it was definitely working. Well, at least he wasn't pretending she wasn't here.

"Can we talk, Keima-kun?" she asked.

Once again, it was quiet for a moment. Then Keima sighed and got up, before turning to her. If he was in sad, relaxed or melancholic mood seconds ago then it was hard to find any trace of it, as the boy seemed to be back to his regular calm and focused disposition, his brown attentive eyes training on hers probably for the first time today. Maybe it was the scenery, or the nerves, but Kanon thought he looked even more striking than usual. Moreover, Kanon had suddenly realized that both of them were wearing glasses and that both of them were considered somewhat more cute or attractive without them.

She suddenly had a brief and stupid urge to take her glasses off.

"I'm listening," he said. His voice wasn't enthusiastic, bored, sad or angry. And it obviously wasn't a voice of a boy in love. Kanon wondered if he was using his poker face right now or was he simply neutral.

"What are you doing here?" she asked before she could bit her tongue. That was not what she wanted to talk about!

"Thinking," he replied simply.

"So you haven't been avoiding me?" Kanon inquired.

"Why would I do that?" Keima replied with a question. "Why would I risk being tased again?"

"You do realize I don't tase people anymore, right? At least without a good reason, like self-defence," Kanon corrected him while sweatdropping. It was her own fault though – using her stun guns on Keima was something she had truly regretted. "Anyway, you haven't really answered my question," she reminded him.

Keima smiled faintly as if acknowledging her being perceptive.

"No, I haven't been avoiding you," he paused for a bit, "actually, I'm surprised it took you so long."

"What do you mean?"

"I've expected you to act sooner... considering the late night call," he explained.

"You know about that!?" Kanon shouted in surprise. "And I asked Eri to not tell you!"

In response Keima laughed.

"What's so funny?" she asked.

"You're underestimating me," Keima looked at her with a serious look on his face, "you're forgetting I made the first move. You think I did it without planning ahead?"

"I-I," was all Kanon managed to stutter out as Keima continued.

"I was two steps ahead of you. I instructed Eri to inform me if you made contact with her or asked about me... She didn't want to tell me how and when you contacted her, but it wasn't hard to figure out."

Keima went silent, observing Kanon's reaction. The idol tried not to show her surprise. And why was she even surprised? It was Keima-kun after all! Obviously he'd have his cards ready. Well, she might as well see what those cards were...

"How about you acquaint me with those plans of yours then?" she asked.

Keima titled his head in question.

"I mean what was that thing with you appearing on my drama shooting? Kanon clarified. "And how did you... no, _what_ did you do to Nishihara? How did you get rid of him and how did he end up unconscious?"

"I didn't know you were so concerned about him," the boy mused aloud.

"I'm not concerned with him!" Kanon objected. "I'm not in lo-Just answer the question!"

"I had Nora contact him and pretend she's a girl interested in him, so he would walk to some private place. Then Nora simply put him to sleep and arranged the place to look as if he had an accident."

"And how did she 'put him to sleep' exactly?" Kanon asked.

"Beats me," Keima shrugged, "but I'm sure she didn't do anything you or me wouldn't be happy about."

Kanon bit her lip, before she decided to move to another thing.

"What was that thing about the script you gave the director?"

"I figured you'd appreciate if there romance in the show was toned down, so I modified the script a little," Keima replied as if it was obvious, "unless, you'd like to have more kissing scenes in-"

"Still," Kanon interrupted him, "that doesn't explain how you could write a script that the director accepted immediately. You copied a scenario from some game you played before?"

"No, if I copied a scenario from a single game that would be an infringement," Keima replied, "so I combined scenarios from a dozen of games and modified them accordingly."

"And you did it in five minutes, I take it?" Kanon questioned, though she had a feeling what his response would be like.

"Actually, it took half of the night to do it..."

"Then why? Why did you do it?" Kanon asked the question she had wanted to ask for days. "Why did you went out of your way to do it?"

"You didn't want to kiss that guy," Keima stated, not asked, "and you were stressed because of it. So I helped you. You should be grateful. You did enjoy the my intervention after all."

Blood rushed to Kanon's cheeks in similar way Mai-High students rushed to Demeter outdoor bakery during lunch break.

"But it doesn't make sense!" she defended, simultaneously advancing the topic and trying to distract him from her red face. "Didn't you say that I need to step outside my comfort zone?"

"That's right," Keima confirmed calmly.

"Then why didn't you leave the decision to me!? Why did you interfere?" she besieged him with questions, forgetting how she disliked this during interviews. "Didn't you just contradict yourself by doing this?"

"Hardly," Keima replied, not batting an eyelash. "You situation haven't changed in the long run."

"What do you mean?" Kanon said in uncertain voice. Keima didn't lose his cool at all and it wasn't a good sign.

"You forget something. Only you know that the one who kissed you was me," Keima reminded her, "the rest of your staff believes it was Nishihara all along. The next time a kissing scene comes up, you won't have any excuse, since everyone else thinks you are fine with kissing Nishihara on camera."

"T-that's..." Kanon started, but words failed her.

"In other words," Keima continued, his finger raised, "from now on you have a choice: either be more careful when it comes to future movie contracts or kiss other men when the script says so."

"Choice?" Kanon repeated. "You left we with no choice when you intervened!"

"Tsk, tsk," Keima wagged his finger at her. "at that moment you didn't have much choice anyway – your decision have already been made by then, whether I'd step in or not. I repeat: with regards to your staff nothing have changed, except I made it easier on you."

"Well, what about with regards to you then?" Kanon asked. "My situation didn't change, but yours did. Why did you choose to involve yourself with the real world like that?"

"You preferred to kiss me rather than Nishihara, right? No, you preferred to kiss me over anyone else," he corrected himself.

Kanon bit her lip.

"Is that 'preference' the reason why the last page of that magical photo album looks... the way it does?" she asked.

"Well, I reckoned you'd rather have a photo of me instead of him," Keima said, "anyway, going back to my intervention... you could consider it to be an apology... and compensation."

"Apology?" Kanon repeated. "Compensation? For what?"

She hoped he didn't mean what she thought he did.

"For almost getting you killed," he explained.

So he did mean that.

"It wasn't your faul-"

"Of course it was," Keima interrupted her, "if I took the goddesses search seriously from the beginning-"

"You had no way of knowing any of that!" Kanon interjected as well, before shaking her head. "Look, you saved me from the emptiness in my heart... you saved my career and you brought me peace. And it's only thanks to you that I'm alive right now," Kanon paused for a moment, her lower lip was trembling a bit, "actually... it's me who's yet to thank you properly for that..."

"Okay," Keima put his hand in front of him to stop the idol from continuing, "then how about this – consider my one-time intervention to be your birthday present."

Kanon blinked at that. "But you've already-"

"The album was a joint present from me, Eri, Tenri and Diana", Keima interrupted, "this is specifically from me. And besides, it's not like I didn't have my own agenda in all this, which brings us to the main issue," Keima looked up, his piercing gaze making Kanon sweat.

"That dream of yours. Dream about you and me. You should give up on that dream," Keima said seriously.

Kanon swallowed. It was obviously turning into a rejection, but it wasn't surprising. It wasn't really the first time either.

"Since when did you know?" she asked, trying to understand him. And stalling for time.

"I was convinced you'd move on, but then Satyr struck back," Keima said, referring to the entire thing with sharing memories, "after that it was obvious it wouldn't be so simple for some of the girls... and you were one of the main candidates."

"Why?" she asked simply, trying best to stay calm, resolved to keep him talking for as long as she could. The more info she had, the more effective her strategy would be.

Keima shrugged. "You're modest, polite and gentle person. At least most of the time," he said, "and most importantly you're a pure person. You've longed for attention all your life or rather you've longed for acceptance and affection. To top it all, you're a goddess host, remembering and harboring your feelings for longer than most other, so such development is not any surprise under such circumstances," Keima summarized, "it is however a nuisance."

"A nuisance, huh?" Kanon repeated with doubtful expression, "so why did you attend the party then? There were several 'nuisances' there as well, you know?"

Keima didn't respond.

"I'll tell you why," Kanon didn't wait for his answer. "First, you used the kiss to have me drop my guard," she stated the obvious. "Then you used the party to observe me and put pressure on me! So what's _your_ play then? Are you going to play a creep, hoping that I'd lose interest?"

"I am a creep," Keima said.

Kanon grit her teeth. For some reason him acting like a cold jerk and thinking she'll buy it made her angry. She was about to take action, when she remembered something about the party.

"Urara," she said quietly.

"What?" Keima asked, his eyes widening.

"When you went back from the bathroom you didn't want to sit next to me-"

"Of course I-"

"-but that doesn't explain why you were so rude to Urara," Kanon continued before her eyes focused on his, "you were rude to her because you're afraid... afraid that she'll start liking you."

"That has nothing to do with this," Keima said. His voice was calm, aside from his lips he didn't move a muscle. He didn't even blink. But Kanon wasn't finished.

"Come to think of it... you took a lot of time in the bathroom," she said and Keima's breath hitched a bit, encouraging her to go on, "did you eavesdrop on our conversation? Trying to learn what we thought of you?"

Keima's eyes narrowed. "And what if I did?"

"I just don't understand," Kanon shook her head, "I know you're changed Keima-kun. You accepted us as your friends. You decided to face the world, even if not completely or with hesitation. Only a blind person wouldn't be able to see that," she paused for a moment, "so why don't you try to embrace the idea of real-life romance as well?"

"I don't like real girls," Keima said simply.

"You obviously don't like me romantically right now," Kanon agreed, "and I didn't expect you to... but that doesn't mean you can't start liking me like that at some point."

Keima laughed. "What makes you think I can like you like that?" he mocked.

"Because I believe in you," Kanon replied honestly, "I believe nothing is impossible for you, Keima-kun. If you only tried-"

"Don't get cocky," Keima interrupted her, his eyes narrowing, "even if I wanted to try, why would I choose you?"

"What do you mean?" Kanon asked, feeling she won't like the answer.

Keima sighed.

"Let's be honest here," he said, "you're a compulsive and obsessive person... And starved for attention..."

Kanon opened her mouth, but no sound was made.

"In the real world, dating an idol is not a dream come true, I remember what it was like when people thought we were dating," Keima continued, "even if we did date, you'd always be out there, doing your job. What kind of dating is that?"

"W-what?" Kanon finally said. Was this really Keima-kun?

"Finally, I did say that the real is boring with only one hair color... but pink hair, seriously?"

Kanon didn't respond to that and didn't move either, only her eyes widening in shock. She just couldn't believe what she was hearing.

"I'm sorry, Kanon," Keima said, though his voice was clinical, "but there's not a route for you and me. That's how the _real_ world is," he added.

Kanon was still rooted to the spot as Keima walked past her, heading in the direction of the gate to exit the compound.

He made a dozen of steps before he felt two small stings on his back before a familiar jolt of electricity passed through him. His muscles immediately went slack as he collapsed onto the grass. He couldn't say he was surprised though. Smaller rejections caused Kanon to tase him in the past, so this was what he had expected...

...except something was... off.

The way he remembered it (and his memory was top-notch), Kanon was pretty savage when it came to the use of her totally not safe stun guns – she would assault him with full force and not retract those deadly and non-PFP friendly tasers until Keima looked as if had been burned to crisp...

...this time it was vastly different, as instead of a prolonged shock it lasted barely a second. The voltage was also nothing compared to what he remembered. Of course, Keima didn't enjoy being tased one bit, but all-in-all it was more annoying than really painful. It was as if Kanon was holding back, which made no sense whatsoever.

Keima forced his body to obey and rolled over. And then he saw Kanon. The image only added to the peculiar feeling of things being weird. He had expected rage. He had expected fury. And he had certainly expected tears. However, Kanon wasn't crying – there was not even a trace of wetness in her eyes. No, her eyes seemed more like steel. There was anger of course, but it was lost in something else, something that Keima didn't exactly expect.

Betrayal.

And disappointed.

"Kanon?" he questioned weakly, but the idol responded by pressing her brand-new stun gun she got from Kusunoki to his stomach and turning on the voltage.

"Gaaanoooon!" Keima mumbled, his tongue refusing to cooperate as his body was once again shocked. Still, it was the same as moment ago – brief and weak.

"Keima... kun... you idiot!" Kanon said slowly, shocking Keima with each word, "you... stupid... stubborn... cocky... lying... manipulative... jerk!"

Finally, Kanon stopped. She pursed her lips and continued to look at Keima with a fierce look on her face.

For a moment it was quiet as Keima struggled to get his body under control.

"Ma-manipulative? Lying?" he finally breathed, his voice confused. He could understand stubborn, cocky and everything else, but that? "Wha-what do you mean?"

Kanon looked at him. Then she blinked. And then she shocked him again, this time not as gently as before.

"Coward!" she accused when she was done.

"Coward?" Keima repeated with some difficulty as he raised the upper part of his body. "Me?"

He didn't say anything more, because Kanon suddenly leaned forward, her face ending up inches from his.

"Keima-kun," she started calmly, "it's true that I don't attend school too often and I'm not the sharpest tool in the shed," she paused for a moment, her eyes boring into his, "but don't think I'm stupid."

"I don't think you're stupid," Keima said, but faltered when he saw an electric arc travel between the electrodes of her stun gun threateningly.

"Oh really?" Kanon mocked. "Then why are you _trying_ such a cheap trick?"

"I don't know what-"

"Don't play dumb!" Kanon told him, before sighing, her expression softer now. "Look, I know you don't like me like that... and that you believe it'd be better if I didn't like you..." her expression turned hard again. "But what you've tried to do right now was pretty low and naive. I'm disappointed with you..."

Keima continued to look at her without saying a word and Kanon sighed again.

"What you've said right now... I don't believe in that. I don't believe in any of that... you don't think I'm obsessive or starved for attention," she clarified, "and while dating an idol certainly isn't a walk in the park, but the new Keima-kun I know-No! Even the old Keima-kun wouldn't truly think like that! You know better than that! I know you better than that! And it's not just me! You've heard all the girls at the party, right?"

Keima opened his mouth, but Kanon wasn't finished.

"And as for the hair color..." she said. "I'm sorry Keima-kun, but that was the dumbest and the most fake of all the arguments you've used and you deserved a tasing for that."

Kanon leaned back and closed her eyes. When she opened them her anger was gone, replaced with her usual gentle expression as she smiled kindly.

"So, Keima-kun, if you need to reject me, because you don't have feelings for me, I'd understand. Of course, I wouldn't give up, but I'll understand. I can't and I won't force you to love me... but don't try to solve this by turn me against you by acting cold and lying. It's not like you."

For a moment it was quiet.

"Not like me?" Keima repeated finally, his voice unreadable, eyes hidden behind his bangs. "I have a long history of hurting girls, lying to girls, rejecting girls and breaking their hearts. It sounds plenty like me."

"No," Kanon shook her head. "You never wanted to hurt anyone. No, I know Keima-kun is good and kind person... even if he's a little cold and insensitive at times," she gave him a poke on the forehead, "you helped me, helped all of us," her hand stayed on his forehead, brushing aside his hair, revealing his widened eyes, "and now you've changed for the better... you can't hide it. You can't deny how you felt when I was stabbed... You might not love any of us in the way a man loves a woman, but you care for every single one of us. You care for us a lot."

She stopped talking for a moment to take in the current situation. The two of them lying on the grass and her basically on top of him, caressing his face on a grassy field like that. She was tempted to switch positions and lay his head on her lap, but she knew their conversation wasn't over.

"I love you, Keima-kun," she confessed, pouring all of her feelings into it, "I want to be with you... I know it's selfish, but I want your love. I want to love and be loved by you in return. So if you have any _valid_ reason to reject me, then I'm listening... but I won't change my mind."

Keima continued to look at her, before he slumped backwards, letting his back hit the grass.

"We're both idiots then it seems," he said quietly, "I apologize."

"So you admit that all of what you've said before was fake and a lie?" she asked.

"No," Keima said, "not everything. I meant the part that you shouldn't be in love with me. Why would you eve be in love with me..."

"For a lot of reasons," Kanon said. And then she remembered something. "Speaking of reason," she started, getting his attention, "you might be a God of Conquest in the gaming world and you might've partially succeeded when applying your gaming knowledge to reality... but the truth is you don't understand the hearts of real girls."

"No shit," Keima said, massaging his stomach, where she tased him. "You don't need to tell me that. I admitted that to Ayumi once myself!"

"I know," Kanon said, "but still I think I _do_ need to tell you that... You remember the meeting of the goddesses after the Mai-High festival?" she asked. "You thought by revealing the truth about 6-timing you'd get rid of all of us hosts. But love doesn't work like that. Girls in love don't work like that," Kanon shook her head, "scratch that. Even when not in love, you can't expect girls to follow reason, especially when they are stressed. Remember your advice back there in that restaurant? To take things more calmly and use reason?"

Kanon waited for Keima to nod before continuing.

"I know you were trying to help and I'm thankful for that. And it's not like your advice was wrong... in fact, it _did_ help me... so let me give you advice on real girls in return. The advice is: don't expect a girl to act calmly and reasonably when she's stressed. Don't tell a stressed girl to use her reason. You'll end up being screamed at, kicked, slapped or worse."

"Wish I knew it a year ago," Keima mumbled.

"Aah..." Kanon said softly smiling, "I'm willing to teach you more about a girl's thoughts and feelings."

Keima groaned. "You're pretty stubborn, aren't you?" he asked.

"Learning about girls, lesson number two," Kanon raised her index finger up as she stood up, "when a girl is in love, she'll go to great length to get the man she loves!"

"Should I take that you're talking about yourself here?" Keima asked as he stood up as well.

"Exactly!" Kanon pointed her finger at him, "I will defeat you Keima-kun!"

Keima blinked once. Then twice.

"Come again?"

"I'll defeat you Keima-kun!" Kanon repeated without moving an inch.

"You mean make me listen to your songs again?" he asked, because her pose and the look of determination in her eyes reminding him of exactly that.

"No," Kanon shook her head, "last time I simply wanted to turn you into my fan, though it spiraled out of control..."

"No argument there," Keima mumbled.

"...this time I'm aiming higher!" Kanon continued. "And I'm not stopping until reach that goal!"

"And what is that goal? To make me your boyfriend?" Keima asked. "Because if it is then you might be in way over your head..."

"Well," Kanon put the fingers of her hands together in a shy gesture, "if I got a boyfriend right now, I'd have to tell about it my parents, my manager and..."

"The entire Japan," Keima finished for her, furrowing his brow, "you didn't come here to ask me out," he stated.

Kanon bit her lip.

"I don't get it," Keima said, "if your plan wasn't to ask me out, then what it is about?"

"It is about that," Kanon admitted, "it's just that official dating right now would be a bad idea for both of us."

"You didn't answer my question," Keima reminded her.

"I guess, what I want for now is something closer than friends, but not as close as a couple," Kanon said, "I mean, I'm... interested in you, I'd like to meet more often, let us get to know each other better... let you see that the two of us can work for real," she paused for a moment, "I guess, it's just like dating... except no stuff like kissing..."

"And no commitment," Keima reminded her.

"I guess so," Kanon lowered her head, before raising it, the fire of determination back in her eyes, "but one day I will make you take responsibility!"

"For what?" Keima asked.

"For that beating heart of mine!" she told him, before relaxing, "but for now... I'll content myself with just getting closer to you..."

"Hold your horses, I didn't agree to anything yet," Keima took of his glasses and started wiping them with his shirt, "your final aim is an ending between you and me."

"Yes," Kanon admitted with some trouble. It wasn't easy to answer when Keima was looking at her attentively like that.

"So, what I've said long ago still holds," he said, "idol routes in games usually have their feelings of themselves supported by the protagonist. But reality is not like that. You can't sing for one person," Keima sighed, "I've told you: you have your career and your fans. I can't possibly have you all to myself."

To his surprise, Kanon smiled brightly.

"It's not a problem, Keima-kun! It's true that you can't have me all for yourself..." she said, putting her hands over her heart and closing her eyes for a moment, enjoying the slight breeze, before she opened her eyes and smiling, "but _I_ can have _you_ all to myself."

"A little greedy, aren't you?" Keima asked, hoping that his voice was as even as he wanted it to be.

"Well, you have yourself to blame for that, Keima-kun!" she said smiling.

"So once again, it's the girl chasing after the protagonist," Keima put his glasses back on, "that's a blasphemy against my gaming tenets."

Kanon groaned.

"Oh, like there aren't any games with idols chasing the protagonist," she said.

"There aren't," Keima told her.

"Sure there are," Kanon shot back, "what about _Crimson Stage_?"

This time Keima wasn't able to pull off his poker face and looked at Kanon with his eyes widened, incredulous.

"How do you know about that?" he asked. "It's quite an old game."

"Well, I just searched the Internet to... umm... check how the idol archetype works in the games... and one website was particularly useful," she winked at him, making it obvious what website she meant.

She wondered. Was the sun starting to set? Or was this really a blush on his face? Anyway, this was probably the best opportunity for a final strike.

"So, you know I don't approve of the method you tried to reject me and I won't be fooled by such methods," she said, walking a step closer and with some satisfaction noticed that Keima had to stop himself from stepping backwards.

"And you think my guilt over that is why I should agree to your... offer?" he asked.

"No," Kanon said, "I mean, that this is your chance to see how the real-world romance is like... you can't tell me you're not curious about it..."

"Even if I were... that doesn't mean-"

"Is the God of Conquest... anxious about what might happen if he agreed?" Kanon asked.

"Is that a challenge?" Keima asked back.

"It's whatever you want it to be," Kanon said simply.

There was a moment of silence.

"All right, then," Keima smiled faintly. It was half-smirk and half a gentle smile. "Let's see what the real can do... However," he added when Kanon smiled, "I'm not guaranteeing anything."

"But I'm guaranteeing I'll make you mine one day," Kanon said, her smile even bigger now as she paused for a while. "Thank you, Keima-kun."

Keima didn't say anything and they stayed like that for a while, looking at each other.

And then...

"I flutter my short hair! I want to unleash a ribbon revolution," Kanon's voice suddenly resounded with a digital feel to it.

"Aah, it's my phone!" Kanon retrieved the said item, an adorable shade of red on her face. "It's mail from mom! Is it this late, already!?" the girl said, panicked, before turning to Keima. "I have to go! I'll see you around, Keima-kun!"

She gave him a quick (and strictly friendly for now) hug, before she ran past him.

Keima followed her, watching her withdrawing figure, when she suddenly turned around.

"Keima-kun!" she said. "I decided to make you my lover one day! But that doesn't mean I've given up on making you my fan! I'll have you like my songs yet!"

With that the girl turned around once again and ran off, disappearing from sight.

Keima remained rooted to the spot for a few seconds, before he collapsed onto the grassy ground.

"It's not like I dislike your songs, you know?" he mumbled softly, before chuckling to himself.

What was he doing?

Anyway, he should better get going too. Who knows what Urara would do to him if she found him here...

 **(* * *)**

 **So, finally, here it is.  
**

 **This chapter was really hard to write and the truth is I'm not really proud or satisfied with it. The flow doesn't go as smoothly as I'd want to, the conversations take forever (to write and to read) and the development might not feel natural with Keima and Kanon acting out of their characters at times.**

 **The main reason this happened is because Kanon has such a special situation. Originally I thought, she could be really dating Keima without telling anyone, but I don't think that's something Kanon would do, so I ended up with this dating-except-not-dating scenario...**

 **...part of the reason is also that the general plot is not as developed as I'd like it to be.**

 **However, while Keima and Kanon's confrontation was difficult and straining, it was at least important... however, there was another point in the chapter which gave me a REAL trouble and it wasn't really important at all.**

 **I mean the point just after the party where I have to go from "everyone is at the party" to "Keima and Kanon are talking alone, despite Keima being seemingly neutral or maybe even avoiding Kanon".**

 **There was just so much stuff that didn't work there! Maybe Keima could walk down and Kanon catches up? but what about other people, walking down (Kanon would've met them if I didn't use Apollo to fly around invisible). And then Keima came with Eri and Tenri, so he'd be expected to go back with those two as well! And why would they be walking down if Yanagi could drive them as a good family servant? And I didn't want the talk to happen on the street or in Keima's house or the next day. The final version isn't perfect either (I can already see Urara being like "what the hell are you two still doing on my property here and why you're tasing him!?"), but I couldn't really change what I've already written (because that was a lot)...**

 **...and when I thought the chapter was done, I forgot to add song references (** ** ** **by the way,**** t** ** **his chapter has 2 references),** so another delay...  
**

 **...so yeah... difficult chapter. I hope the next ones will be a lot easier...**

 **...speaking of next chapters, the term will start soon, which could be a problem. And I want to write another one-shot in the meantime, but hopefully I'll write it in the time I wouldn't be writing KanonNomi anyway. And I have a feeling you might like that one-shot, so look forward to it! :)**

 **Going back the party that took a considerable chunk of this chapter... that party was a well-thought event that was essential to the later part of the chapter! #blatantlies**

 **Really! It's not like it originally started as a filler, because I just wanted to add more girls and then I had to come up with a justification for it! #suspiciouslyspecificdenial  
**

 ***cough* *cough* Moving on, just if someone is curious how much I make up and how much I don't: Aibi city is kinda a thing in the manga, situated somewhat in-between Maijima city and Narusawa city. It can be seen on a map in chapter 36.5 (omake to volume 4). However, I had to guess the location of the Shiratori compound. I'm fairly certain my guess is fairly logical and accurate though.  
**

 **Still, I'm kinda glad I somehow managed to make a reference to yandere side of Kanon... without her actually acting yandere in the end.**

 **Also, there's Zelda reference somewhere in this chapter, but I wrote is some time ago and I don't remember where it is anymore. xD**

 **Okay, I think there's only one thing left to say which is: I humbly ask you to review this chapter and favorite/follow the story if you haven't already. I'd really like to know your opinion on this chapter.**

 **So, that's it!**

 **See you next time!**

 **(after writing the above line I remembered I still didn't have a title for this chapter :/)**


	6. Flag 69: Between friends and lovers

**Hello, everyone! I'm back!**

 **At long last...**

 **So yeah... it's been around 3 months since I last updated and this is definitely the longest it had ever taken me to update and I'm ashamed of myself. Well, part of it was university being very busy and time-consuming, part of it was that I was stuck, because writing KanonxKeima is really difficult at times... but a big part of it was my own laziness, so I'm still very ashamed of myself.**

 **Anyway, I finally managed to put this chapter together, but before we get into that there's one issue to deal with. As you obviously can see I'm alive. I haven't gone on hiatus and I don't intend to. And I'll try to post another chapter in under a issue is elsewhere.**

 **The thing is I'd like for some method to let you guys know about the progress on my chapters. The first idea would be to just release an "author's note" chapter, but I don't want that for several reasons. It's not flexible, it's frowned up by the site and, most importantly of all, I don't enjoy it when I get a chapter notification only to learn it's author's notes and I bet you don't like either...**

 **...so I decided on another approach, one I was thinking about implementing way before, just didn't do it. I'll start to put updates on my profile (along with dates), so you'd be able to see what's the progress on the next chapter and make sure I'm alive. I'll try to udpate it at least once per week, maybe more. That way people that are not interested won't get any annoying updates and the people that are curious can always go to my profile and check.**

 **I'd also like for you to give me feedback (through PMs or reviews) how you feel about this idea.**

 ** **I'm also sorry if the last chapter wasn't to your expectations. Wish it'd go better, but that had been particularly difficult to write. I hope this chapter is better.****

 **As usual, I want to thank for every single review, follow and favorite I've received. And I want to especially thank for all my readers that continue to read my stories despite the 3-month break.**

 **Below are replies to latest reviews:**

 **Ghost Man:** glad you liked the mouse cornering scene :). I hope you'll continue to enjoy future chapters.

 **Shawn Raven (older review):** glad to see you review that chapter. I'm very happy that the effort I put into scenes with Kanon's parents. I also love writing interactions between certain groups of girls *cough* Mio *cough* Urara *cough* Yui ;). How did a Harry Potter reference got here? *beckons you to come closer and whispers to youe ear* It's magic! ;)

 **Shawn Raven (newer review):** thank you very much, I definitely enjoyed writing that Nikaidō and Keima scene :). Yep, Keima excels at the unexpected... I'm sure it went according to plan... the question is was it Keima's or Kanon's plan. I'm very glad you liked the scene with Miyako :) :).

 **Sir Sleeps-a-lot:** oops... silly me :P. Laughing at you belting out songs. Would you listen to fics if they were in audio format? ;) Also, congratulations on figuring out the songs. Searching for "gets tased" running ga-oh there it is. It was nic-oh there it is again ;). Heh, it's more like half relationship upgrade (half-level up? xD). It seems you've also leveled up in dodging. :)

 **Leyknar:** thank you very much and, once again, sorry for the delayed chapter -.-'.

 **Fss The Red Devil:** I was busy too... as stated above, so we're kinda even :P. I'm not really sure I understood your opinions on some girls, except that they're far from perfect. So, I'm good at messing with brains of people? I'll take that as a compliment ;). Hey, my brain is not messed up... too much... Well, I'm also far from satisfied how that talking scene was written, but I guess it can't the same quality every time. Kanon is particularly hard to write and figuring out how to go about this to keep both Keima and Kanon (kinda) in character and not use too many words was rather difficult.

 **El Sasori69:** heh, I'm sorry, but I'm glad to hear that ;). Well, your question shall be answered in this chapter. Probably :P.

 **KanonForever:** no idea why would you think that. This chapter was a progress, after all.

 **Okay, I think that's enough dilly-dallying, since you've waited enough for this, so onto the chapter!**

 **Enjoy!**

 **(* * *)**

"Are you listening, Keima?"

The God of Conquest, known to the physical plane as Keima Katsuragi, blinked twice and then looked up to the source of the voice calling him and saw the face of his mother, just like him sitting by the table.

It was the day after the party at the Shiratori estate and the entire Katsuragi family of four was having breakfast, which was a rare sight.

Keima looked at Mari for a second, before shaking his head a bit.

"I'm sorry, I didn't hear you," he said, "could you repeat that?"

"I said that Tenri-chan and her mother invited us over in the evening."

"Is that so?" Keima asked in a bored voice.

"You mean Ayukawas?" Keima's father suddenly asked, preventing Mari's temper for flaring up.

"Yes," Mari confirmed, "and it'd be rude to not come, especially since I assured Yuuko-san that we will visit them. And I mean ALL of us," her gaze went towards her son.

Keima didn't say anything, only nodded his head, before standing up.

"Thank you for the meal", he said.

"Are you done eating already?" Mari asked, looking at his half-eaten portion.

"I'm not hungry," Keima replied, pulling a PFP seemingly out of nowhere and walking towards the stairs.

"That kid will seriously lose weight if he's going to eat like that..." Mari shook her head. "As if spending days in that dark room of his wasn't enough..."

A conversation between Mari and Keiichi started, but Eri wasn't listening, her eyes looking at where Keima had left.

(* * *)

Keima entered his room and went straight for his bed and lay down on it, his fingers pressing the buttons on his console all the time. For the next half an hour he continued to play his current galge, but he made less progress than he expected to make.

Finally, he shut down his PFP and put it on his bedside table, before he put his hands behind his head. His gaze was fixed on the ceiling, but his mind went beyond that.

Thinking...

The yesterday events were still fresh on his mind, yet they were surprisingly clouded at the same time. On one hand he remembered everything clearly and he had his understanding of what happened and why.

Rejecting Kanon or running away with no answer was certainly too dangerous. If there was one thing Keima remembered about the pink-haired idol, it was how terrifying she was when faced with disobedience. Almost like his own mother.

It was also true that Kanon had a tight schedule, which meant she shouldn't interfere with his life often... well at least not as often as some other girls could.

Moreover, dangerous situations became even worse when chaos was introduced. And that could end badly for him. To avoid and limit any possible damage to him and his gaming time like that Keima had to seize control of the flags. All the flags.

Thus, having Kanon closer to him would mean having flags closer to him, where he could see them before they were haphazardly raised.

However, on the other hand, there were parts of him that told him the situation was not quite so simple...

First, his current situation was obviously dangerous. And unprecedented. While not even close to typical dating, Keima Katsuragi was now technically in a relationship with a girl...

...a real girl...

...that was his classmate...

...and a national idol.

That part alone was already unfathomable. Controlling the flags or not, he was still on a route.

Oh god, he was on a route in the real! How did that happen? He felt like snorting. He knew exactly how this had happened. Kanon's dare, her challenge, did affect him. It was a very smart of her to do that. However, he knew that this alone wouldn't make him cave in, as there were two additional reasons that made him accept Kanon's request.

First reason was simple. Keima felt guilty.

Of course he felt guilty for a lot of things, the most prominent being deceiving Ayumi, putting the burden on Tenri and giving her false hope. And obviously breaking Chihiro's heart. And there was Kanon getting stabbed.

From one viewpoint, the first three offenses were more his fault. He knew what was doing when he was rejecting Chihiro or giving Tenri her task. From a different viewpoint though, what happened to Kanon was much more dangerous. She could have died for God's sake! That was why right now, when Chihiro, Ayumi and Tenri seemed to be fine, the guilt over letting Kanon get hurt got to him. No matter what he thought of the real and real girls, he couldn't just ignore Kanon's pleas.

The second reason was even simple than the previous one. Keima was simply curious.

He knew that the moment he had decided to "play" the real, he would change, but the speed and extent of the change had surprised him. For a moment he had feared his enthusiasm for saving game heroines had been copied to real life heroines, as if he was about to journey the world, saving any cute real life girl, but nothing like that happened. Yes, he was closer to his real world conquest girls, but he wasn't attracted to any of them, including Kanon. However, he was still curious and with Kanon persistence he lost the reason to refuse.

Of course, he wasn't about to tell anyone that, but the fact remained that Kanon had kinda asked him out and he had kinda agreed and he still couldn't wrap his head around it.

Maybe, he was overthinking it and the explanation was much simpler. Maybe he was losing his touch... the very thought was ridiculous, but there was a lot of evidence...

Him helping Kanon with her drama shooting problem...

Him going to that party yesterday...

While he could handle those fine on the surface, such social interactions were too big of a shock, so he had decided he needed to be alone for a while, so he had went to the clearing on the Shiratori grounds, thinking no-one would look for him there...

...exactly where Kanon had found him yesterday.

And here was the biggest proof of his downfall. It was true he had been testing Kanon's resolve, but he had executed that flag very poorly. He had been too harsh, had acted too hasty and and he had almost hurt a real girl deep... again...

Long story short: he truly deserved the tasing he had gotten yesterday...

Keima laughed dryly, realizing the name he had chosen for his galge website had never been more fitting.

He truly was a fallen god now...

His murky thoughts were interrupted when he heard a telltale sound coming from his bedside table. He reached with his hand and picked up his PFP. Obviously, he got an email and he kinda had an idea from who it was. He read the mail and was immediately proven right.

 _Keima-kun,_

 _I wanted to thank you for yesterday and for your presents, I like them very much. I'm going out with my parents today, need to use the last few of my days off._

Keima stopped to think. On one hand, this e-mail came rather early, considering that Kanon should be sleeping in. On the other hand, he remembered all too well how Kanon's could e-mail him over thirty times a day with the most trivial of issues. She probably didn't want to come across as annoying. Keima had been expecting it though. He was actually surprised Kanon endured so long without sending him a message.

Keima read the rest of the e-mail and once again paused to think. He was about to start his reply when he heard a knocking on the door, making him leap into the air a little.

"Nii-sama?" the high-pitched, but quiet voice of his twin sister came from the other side of the door.

"What do you want?" Keima asked as he exited the e-mail app and started up a random game.

"Can I come in?" the voice answered.

"If you must," Keima replied, but only after he had started a new game.

The door opened and Eri, or rather her back, entered the room. The girl then turned around, revealing what Keima suspected she was carrying – a tray with food.

"You just ate breakfast," he reminded her, hoping he was wrong.

"This isn't for me, nii-sama," she brought the tray to his bedside table, "this is for you."

He narrowed his eyes dangerously, but Eri just smiled.

"It's no good to leave half-eaten breakfast like that, nii-sama. It is the most important meal of the day after all. It's common sense."

"Did you of all people, really just speak of common sense just now?" he asked, but his sister's only response was to grab a sandwich and place it in front of his mouth. "You're not going to feed me like a newborn?"

"Newborns don't eat sandwiches," Eri said matter-of-factly, "now, say aah..."

Keima snorted and snatched the sandwich from her hand and bit it.

"Fhank you, Eli," he said as he swallowed, "you can leave now."

Eri smiled... and walked closer, sitting on his bed.

"So... what's up?" the female Katsuragi asked.

"You tell me," her brother replied, "what's up with you today?"

"Yesterday's party was really nice, don't you think so, nii-sama?" Eri said in answer.

Keima took another bite, thinking. Thank goddesses, that Eri wasn't good at keeping secrets or cornering people, because it was obvious she had felt something was different with him today. She might be scatterbrained, but she was one of the girls who stayed close to him the most and thus understood him relatively well, considering her opinion on games and overall silliness. Damn, he shouldn't have spaced out so much during the breakfast. Still, she had only detected something and nothing more, so as long as he played it right she won't learn anything more.

"Go grab your jacket," he said.

"Huh?"

"I'm going to buy games," Keima told her. "I'll buy you a new issue of Rescue Fan."

Eri was silent for a moment, mulling it over.

"Fine," she said finally, "but I'm not carrying your games."

"I didn't plan on you carrying it," Keima replied, but Eri didn't really listen, already walking out of the room with a smile on her lips, her mind undoubtedly full of firetrucks.

Once the door closed, Keima sighed in relief. He was saved. For now. He took another sandwich and went back to his e-mail app. He had to reply before Eri returned.

A minute later she knocked on his door again.

"Are you ready, nii-sama?"

"Yes," the boy responded as he pressed the "send" button.

"Let's go."

(* * *)

"Did something good happen?"

Kanon blinked before she looked up from her phone and at her father who asked the question.

"What do you mean?" she asked back.

"You looked into your phone and smiled," Mr. Nakagawa said.

"It's just an e-mail from one of my friends," Kanon replied truthfully, pocketing her phone.

"I wonder which friend is that," Kanon's mother whispered from the other side, quietly enough so her husband wouldn't hear her.

He also didn't see a wink and smile Mrs. Nakagawa sent her daughter.

Kanon immediately looked in front of her, trying to prevent her face from heating and not completely succeeding.

"Anyway, let's go!" she said as she grabbed each of her parent by hand and sped up like an excited primary school kid.

(* * *)

"Welcome!" Yūko Aykawa said as she opened the door, greeting the entire Katsuragi family. The guests entered the Ayukawa household and Keima immediately decided that 6 people was a tad too much for such a small space, not to mention that one more person was waiting in the corridor.

"Tenri, come here, don't be shy!" Mrs. Ayukawa said, bringing her daughter to the front.

"Um... good evening," Tenri greeted quietly, somehow surprising Keima. It seemed a simple event like this intimidated her more than jumping into a vortex of chaos and time, which kinda worried him. His attention then briefly switched to the only person here that he didn't know – the burly brown-haired man that was apparently Tenri's father – before Eri stole the spotlight as usual.

The group quickly moved to the living room, where a table was prepared. They were just about to sit down and Keima was just preparing for a few hours of torment, when his mother spoke.

"This is really comfy... perhaps too comfy."

"What do you mean, Mari-san?" Mrs. Ayukawa furrowed her brow.

"This might be a little too hard to fit 7 people by this table... perhaps children could move upstairs?" Mari replied, tossing Tenri's mother a gaze that was meaningful to everyone but Eri.

Mrs. Ayukawa was already opening her mouth for an obviously less-than-polite retort, but then she closed it.

"Tenri," she said after a moment, "how about you show Keima-kun your room?"

Tenri immediately became flustered, while Keima fought the urge to groan. Eri on the other hand seemed excited.

"Aahh... Eri-chan you could stay with us here," Mari said, clearly wanting to get Tenri and Keima alone for a while, but Eri seemed oblivious.

"I want to see some of Tenri-chan's magic tricks!" she said as the three teens left the living room.

(* * *)

"I'm sorry," Tenri said as soon as they entered her room.

"It's fine," Keima answered, "besides, it's my mother who started this, so I'm the one who's sorry."

"Anyway, please make yourself at home, I'll bring some snacks," Tenri said as she left.

During the next half an hour Tenri showed Eri a few new tricks and several old ones. After that Eri started a conversation, which Tenri joined. Keima on the other hand was mostly listening, as the topics were too random and too unimportant for his taste.

He was surprised Diana didn't make an appearance so far. Even more surprising was the fact that Kanon took 2 hours to answer his e-mail. Frankly, a reply in under 2 seconds was more likely in his mind.

"Keima-kun?"

He blinked and turned to Tenri, who had called him and internally cursed. He had been too absent-minded today!

"Yes, what is it?" he asked.

"I asked you if you wanted some pocky," Elsie said, offering him the said snack.

"I don't like sweet things," Keima replied matter-of-factly, "did you already forget that?"

"Tenri-chan just said those are coffee and green tea flavored," the female Katsuragi said in whiny voice. "Geez, you seem really out of it today, nii-sama!"

"Ah, sorry about that," Keima said causally. He wasn't looking at Tenri, afraid of what he would see.

For a moment it was quiet, before Tenri reached out for the pocky in Eri's hand.

"I'll get some the-"

It happened in a flash. Tenri knocked over a glass that was on the low table. Eri instinctively raised her hand, limiting the amount of juice that drenched her clothes, most of it landing on her arm and floor.

"Oh, god, I'm so sorry!" Tenri said, grabbing a few tissues with surprising graceness and trying to clear the mess.

"Ahaha... it's okay," Eri said with a weak smile, "umm... where is the bathroom? I'll wash this off."

"That won't be enough," Tenri stood up and walked to her closet, retrieving some shirt. "Here, you can change into some of my clothes... and you should take a quick shower."

"It's not really necessary," Eri tried, but Tenri pushed the shirt into her hands in a very un-Tenri like way, which was even weirder, because Keima could see no wings at all.

"The bathroom is to the left, here's a towel," the girl added another article of clothing onto Eri's arms, before all but pushing the girl outside and closing the door.

Tenri wanted to interrogate him. This Keima realized in an instant. Still this realization was much too late, because when Tenri Ayukawa – also known as Keima lie detector – turned around there was a small and mysterious smile on her lips.

"So... Keima-kun, do you want to tell me what this is about?"

Keima was silent for a moment, before he came to a decision.

"No."

"I know something's going on. It's no use pretending otherwise," Tenri said.

"I'm not pretending otherwise," Keima replied, "I just don't want to talk about it."

It was Tenri, so she wouldn't try to force him, right?

The dark-haired teen walked up to him and sat down in front of him with a neutral expression on her face, while Keima looked back with what he was hoping was annoyed glance.

Tenri didn't budge though. Now, how long could Eri take in that shower? All he had to do was stay firm and noth-

"Is it about Kanon-chan?" Tenri suddenly asked.

"W-what?" Keima uttered loudly in surprise.

"Oh, so it is about Kanon-chan..." Tenri said in slight surprise as well, leaning back when Keima raised his voice.

"Hmph... you have no proof," he accused.

"Hm... I did meet her when going back from the party yesterday," Tenri said, "she was surprised you weren't going back with me, so I told you you weren't going home yet and then she went into another direction."

"So?" Keima asked curtly.

"You seemed a bit distracted today," Tenri went on, "moreover, you act more social and polite today than usual."

"So do you," Keima noticed.

"I guess I always wanted to be more social... just couldn't do it," Tenri said. "You are different though, Keima-kun. You acted the way you did because you chose that. It was what me and a lot of other people found admirable about you. Today you're a bit different though," she paused for a moment. "So... what happened?"

"What makes you think I'll tell you?"

"Oh, I'm sure you'll tell me," Tenri said, "the only question is whether you'll be done answering before Eri is back."

"Okay, okay, this is about Kanon," Keima admitted, trying to ignore the smile on Tenri's face.

"I'm listening," the dark-haired girl said.

Keima sighed. And then he started talking.

(* * *)

"Don't want to meet... I want to meet... Though I don't want it... I love the ironic-love..." Eri hummed a song as she started to wash the juice off her skin after stepping into the shower and turning on the water.

(* * *)

"So you're worried that you rejected Kanon-chan?" Tenri asked when Keima had reached the most important part of his short story. It didn't take him long to reach it either, as he tried to be as concise as possible, mentioning only essential stuff and avoiding any drama.

"About that," Keima said, feeling that what he was about to say was a very bad idea, "I didn't exactly reject her in the end."

Tenri blinked.

"You mean you agreed to go out with her?" she asked, her eyes widening.

"Well, it's more like try-out," Keima said, "between that and Kanon being constantly busy it won't be your typical dating, but... I did."

Tenri brought her hands together as she smiled. "That's-"

"Presumptuous!" another female voice interrupted her. There was a flash of white and the next second Keima felt himself being shaken by a part of feminine, but strong hands.

"Unforgivable!" Diana shouted, her eyes narrowed. "How could you do that to Tenri?! You impertinent, impudent, insolent, intolerable idiot!"

Wow, Keima though, her vocabulary had gotten both diverse and limited at the same time...

"Diana, stop!" there was another, smaller flash of light and Diana was gone, replaced with Tenri again.

"I'm sorry," the girl said.

"Don't be sorry," Diana spoke from a mirror on the table, the very one she spoke from when Keima was first in this house. He remembered Tenri threw the mirror out of the window back then and he kinda hoped she'd do it again. It was wishful thinking though – Tenri didn't have any secrets or embarrassment to hide this time. "He's the one who should be sorry!"

"Please don't say that, Diana," Tenri asked patiently.

"No, she's right," Keima said, making both the goddess and its host stop and look at him, "the only fair way to go about this would be for me to not date anyone at all," he looked down, guilt swelling in him, "because no matter who I'd choose, I'll always end up hurting you or Chihiro."

"With all due respect," Diana said, "Tenri had sacrificed the most of all of-" the voice of the goddess died out when Tenri knocked over the mirror, pressing its reflective surface down flat against the desk. Then she approached Keima and kneeled down next to him.

"I think you should give Kanon-chan a chance," she said, putting a reassuring hand on his shoulder.

"But you and Chihiro and-" Keima started, but Tenri pressed a finger to his lips to silence him.

"You were always like this," she said, her voice nostalgic. "Haqua-san, Ayumi-san, Diana... they were always insulting you, but I always knew better... yes, you can be proud and stubborn and a weirdo... but you've always placed your heroines before you... in games and now in real life."

Keima didn't say anything, while Tenri continued, her finger now sliding over his cheek briefly before she pulled it back.

"At the same time you've also stopped being the player... back then in the classroom ten years ago," she clarified when she saw his confused expression, "you stopped trying to control everything and let us share your burden. You stopped pressing the buttons and let the heroines act out of their own volition."

She paused for a moment, her compassionate eyes fixed on his.

"Both of those qualities are very admirable of you," she said, "but you should stop a bit, you're already overdoing it."

"What do you mean?" Keima asked and Tenri sighed.

"Look, Keima-kun, I know you wanted to save all the heroines, that you consider it your mission and you feel... guilty for us, but you have to live as well. Besides the heroines' fate there's also your own fate you need to tend to. You need to take care of your own happiness."

"You're implying I'm not happy?" Keima asked.

"You're not," Tenri said, "not before you can forgive yourself. Not before you accept that you deserve more. You stopped trying to control others, so don't let others control you now. You deserve to chose your own path to happiness. You don't have to blindly follow what others want you to follow... you don't have to do what others expect you to do... in other words," Tenri looked into his eyes, "you should give Kanon-chan a chance, but you shouldn't do it out of guilt and you shouldn't try to sacrifice yourself to please her. It's very admirable, but you can't build a healthy relationship with her in the long run like that."

"But-" Keima started, yet Tenri immediately spoke, knowing what he wanted to say.

"If it won't work out with Kanon-chan, then I'll gladly accept you and I'm sure Chihiro-san would as well... as long as you're not doing it out of guilt and not being forced... so promise me you will try your best to give Kanon-chan a fair chance."

"Fine, I promise," Keima said after a while.

"So I take it you will give it a try if Kanon wants to go on a date?" Tenri asked.

"Well... she kinda did already," Keima showed her his PFP with the e-mail app opened. "She wants to meet me the day after tomorrow. It's not exactly a date though."

"Really?" Tenri asked. "Then I wish the best for both of you... oh and one more thing," the girl who was his greatest supporter and had the most faith in him stood up and smiled slyly, "don't even think about trying to trick me. I'll know if it really didn't work out with Kanon or if you're just pretending."

And somehow, Keima believed her.

"Thank you, Tenri," was all he could say.

It was really quiet for a moment with the girl smiling gently at him, when suddenly the door opened and Eri entered the room.

"The clothes are really nice, thank your Tenri-chan," the female Katsuragi said, oblivious to the mood, "also they're calling us downstairs."

(* * *)

"Is it really, ok?" Diana asked a few hours later when Tenri climbed into her bed, "you can't hide what you heart wants after all."

"You can't always get what you want," Tenri replied matter-of-factly, "Keima-kun isn't our property."

"Our!?" Diana repeated with disdain. "Why would I even want to own such a terrible treacherous man like him!?"

Tenri shook her head. "You're still so stubborn, Diana," she said before turning to the side.

"Good luck, Keima-kun", she whispered before she fell asleep.

(* * *)

Keima didn't go to sleep though. Instead he was sitting by his desk, alternating between frantically writing on sheets of paper and just sitting there, gazing into the night in thought.

The sky above the horizon was already turning bright when finally the light in the window of Keima's room went out.

(* * *)

It was an afternoon two days later and Keima had just walked out of his house. He was wearing a sweater over a shirt with a scarf draped over his neck and a backpack on his back. It was still March and the spring had only recently managed to drive the winter away. Keima once more checked his watch. It was 2 o'clock confirming that he was on schedule. Good, he thought, before he started walking in the direction of the train station.

He had managed to leave the house through the residential entrance on the designated time without being bothered by anyone. To this end he hadn't bought games in the last two days, so he'd have an excuse to leave the house without rousing any suspicion.

Just as planned.

Soon, he arrived at the Maijima train station and boarded a train towards Narusawa City. Once there, he proceeded to visit his regular point of interest there – Soft House Collie game shop.

Half an hour later, Keima left the shop, his small backpack holding a new load of dating sim games, as he once again checked his watch. He still had some time left. On the other hand, the time left was less than planned, as he had let the gaming shelves absorb him a bit too much. Thus, he decided to proceed to his main point of interest today.

His date-not-date with Kanon.

Frankly, Keima was walking a little blindly here. He was a pro at accomplishing dates in games, but he wasn't stupid enough to believe the dates in the real world were like that. For one, dates in galges didn't consist only of regular events. It was normal for something unexpected to happen, like some thugs or meeting another heroine. It short, the dates were rigged with chances for the player to prove himself, earning additional love points, or chances for screwing up, resulting in immediate bad end. In real world the chances of something like that happening were much lower, though Keima surmised that between Kanon being an idol and a goddess host and him being associated with hell, some unorthodox events were possible.

However, not only was this not a regular game date. It was not even a regular real date! First, Kanon was a time-deprived idol that could not show herself in public without starting a commotion. Not to mention that he was the last person the general public expected her to meet.

Finally and most important of all, his relationship with Kanon was unorthodox as well. It was somewhere in-between, walking the boundary separating "just friends" from "boyfriend and girlfriend". Thus, what was happening today was not a date. It was just a meeting between two unorthodox friends with the goal of knowing each other better and determining if a closer relationship was to be pursed... then again, wasn't that the definition of a date? Well, at least Keima could expect such events to not be exactly regular, what with Kanon's job and her permanent lack of time.

Still, it was important to stay focused, he could never know what would happen. He did chose Narusawa as the place for the date-not-date on purpose to avoid running into some people he knew, as improbable as it was, but there was still a lot outside of his control. For example...

He looked over his shoulder, but saw no-one. Not that he expected to see anyone.

He arrived at the meeting spot and pulled out his PFP to pass the time. It was still five minutes till the designated time, when he heard a voice.

"Keima-kun!"

Keima blinked. In all honesty, he hasn't been expecting for Kanon to arrive on time, but it was definitely her voice. He raised his head and started to look around, not knowing what kind of disguise the idol was using this time. And then he found her. And blinked again.

There was Kanon Nakagawa, wearing stockings, a pink skirt and blouse and a darker jacket. It was much less fancy than what she wore on stage and she was wearing next to no makeup. On the other hand, it was not plain and not exactly casual – Kanon was certainly trying to make a good impression.

And most important of all – her hair was pink and uncovered, completed with her trademark yellow ribbon. Aside from the fact she was wearing glasses she looked pretty normal, which screamed trouble.

"Is something wrong?" Kanon asked, apparently noticing the look on his face.

"What happened to your disguise?" Keima asked.

"Oh, this," Kanon turned her head, looking over her outfit, "it's not a problem."

"We're in Narusawa City in broad daylight for goddesses' sake!" Keima reminded her. "How is that not a problem?"

Come to think of it, people weren't looking in their direction, even though Kanon walked like that the entire way. This made no sense.

Unless...

"Disguises are really troublesome and all, so I asked Apollo for help," Kanon said with a smile. "She wasn't thrilled as illusions are not her forte, but she agreed and did this," she turned on the spot, letting her skirt float into the wind.

"This is an illusion?" Keima repeated.

"That's right," Kanon said, "only me and Keima-kun can see through it... so are we going?"

(* * *)

Even though it was only second half of March and it was still a bit chilly, the Dezeni Sea theme park was already bustling with activity. Keima had been to this theme park several times already, by now its attractions being more or less known to him. He didn't have the best memories of it though. He had went there for Kusunoki's conquest and it had been boring and ineffective. He had went there to cheer Elsie up after what had happened during Hinoki's conquest, but he was there concerned with Elsie's depression and once again the theme park hadn't been able to solve the issue. Then was the "double date" with Tenri and Haqua, which was all but a total disaster. And then there was Yui's reconquest. This was the only time Dezeni Sea was effective as an event place and even that required some additional effort and help of magic.

In short, in Keima Katsuragi's opinion this place was moderate at most.

Kanon Nakagawa, however, had a vastly different opinion.

"That was great!" the idol said as the two of them just got off their roller coaster ride.

Keima didn't particularly agree on this part either, roller coasters made him very dizzy. It definitely wasn't something he enjoyed, but he had promised Tenri he'd be serious about this, so he didn't complain.

"So, where are we going next?" Kanon asked.

"Wherever you want," Keima replied, "I'm fine with everywhere."

"That won't do," Kanon said, "isn't there any place you'd want to go?" she then paused. "Are you having fun at all?"

"Moderately," he replied truthfully.

"Is my company disturbing you this much?" Kanon asked, her voice laced with sadness.

"No," he said, "trust me, your company is the best aspect of this entire event."

"R-really?" Kanon perked up, not expecting that answer.

"A lot of you people seem to think my opinion on you is much lower than it really is," Keima noticed, referring to the girls he had conquered in general.

"Can you blame us though?" Kanon said quietly.

"Did you say something?"

"Ah... how about we try this?" Kanon pointed to another attraction, one that Keima recognized as well.

"Shooting gallery?" Keima remarked.

"Yes, let's see..." Kanon surveyed the western-themed booth for a moment, before she pointed her finger. "Let's start with this one!"

"Huh?" Keima looked at the middle-sized plushie she was pointing at. "You want me to win that for you?"

"But of course," Kanon paid the owner and retrieved the gun. "Here! The theme is saving a girl and you're trying to win the prize for the girl as well. It shouldn't be a problem for a God of Conquest, should it?"

(* * *)

Keima was doing fairly well at first, so Kanon started to cheer him on, though she doubted he'd need that. It just happened. She didn't know if it had any effect on Keima, but whatever had, the final effect was spectacular.

"Oh, my..."

"Okaa-san, is that boy a magician?"

"He must be cheating! I'm sure I saw him wielding two guns!"

"How wonderful..."

A small crowd had gathered around the stand, while the stand owner looked as if he was about to cry as he watched Keima hit the targets without fail, seemingly knowing where they would appear before they appeared.

Maybe he was the one who made them appear?

"Thank you my hero," the cardboard heroine spoke as Keima shot down the last bandit. And then the applause started.

(* * *)

"Is that really, okay? Leaving just with this?" he clarified, pointing to the two rewards he and Kanon were carrying.

"Of course," Kanon replied, smiling, "you don't want the poor man to go bankrupt, do you?"

"No, but you could have chosen more," Keima noticed.

"Yes, but it's not like I have shortage of plushies or anything," Kanon said and Keima remembered all the stuff Eri got from the idol's fans when she was substituting for her.

"Then why get this one?" he asked.

"Because you won it for me," Kanon said simply, "I'll treasure it."

Keima shook his head, but he didn't mind it. Actually, this was better than he had expected.

"Are you a god?" Kanon suddenly asked.

"Was I too subtle about my title?" Keima chuckled.

"I'm serious," Kanon turned to him, watching him carefully, "that back then was the second time you had a gun like that in your hand, right?"

"No," Keima replied. "I've done this before somewhere one or twice."

"Still, that was unreal. You were like a master marksman back there," she looked at him again. "Are you certain you're human? You know, magic is absurd, but seeing stuff being done by supernatural beings with magic kinda makes sense. The stuff you do with your skill doesn't."

"Does it bother you?" Keima asked.

"Well, it can be a little intimidating at times," Kanon admitted, "it certainly makes people self-conscious, when we all have to work so hard and you just come and do stuff off the top of your head."

"The reason I can do stuff off the top of my head is because I remember stuff," Keima told her patiently, "and the reason I remember it is because I put much effort into learning and remembering it... I played countless games and refined my skills, don't make it sound like I was born with it."

"Says the guy who was fluent in galge terminology and knew what harem endings were at the age of seven," Kanon deflected. "The same guy who can remember events in minute intervals. Also-"

"Okay, okay, you're right, I got it!" Keima yielded. "Geez, you're persistent."

"You've no idea," Kanon smiled, before he checked the time. "It's nearly dinner time, so how about we get something to eat?"

(* * *)

"WcDonalds?" Keima asked surprised as the two of them neared the fast food restaurant.

"Yeah, is that a problem?" Kanon asked.

"Don't you think fast food might not be the best for you?"

"During my days off I get to eat mom's food and I get plenty of rest, so it's fine. A little break once in a while is definitely great", Kanon said before she turned to him. "Also, that means I don't need to hurry for any concert or interview today, so for the next few hours, no-ones going to draw my attention from you," she shot him a closed-eye smile and Keima rolled his eyes.

The two of them entered the restaurant only to see a long line of customers in front of them.

"It'll take forever to order anything here," Keima noted.

"It's ok," Kanon reassured him, "just find a seat, I'll deal with the orders."

Normally Keima would object or at least let Kanon sit down, while he made the orders, but he somehow felt that Kanon needed this. She normally couldn't casually walk into a restaurant and order food like a normal teenager, without a heavy diguise, so she perhaps wanted to do so now when she had the chance.

So weird, Keima thought as he walked to one of the remote tables and sat down, real girls are so weird. First they want to get away from their normal lives and shine, then they become burdened by their new lives and want to go back to being a commoner. How, inconsistent, he thought as he pulled out his PFP. Kanon was sure to spend at least 10 minutes in that line.

He barely started a game when he heard a whisper to his left, even though the seat there was empty. At least it looked that way.

"Is playing really something you should be doing on a date?"

Keima didn't reply immediately, continuing his game and not letting anyone know that he had heard it. He wasn't very surprised – the fact that his devil guardians were following him daily was normal. But he reckoned they'd keep a fair distance and certainly wouldn't talk to him, so this was somewhat unexpected.

"It's not a date," he finally replied quietly, although he was no longer sure about that answer himself, "if you have something important to say, then say it quickly, before people notice and start to think I'm talking to myself."

"And since when you care about random people thinking you're a creep and weirdo?" Haqua whispered back.

"I don't," Keima replied, "but Kanon does."

The purple-haired devil was quiet for a moment and although he couldn't see her, he sensed that she was watching him. He didn't know what to think of that. He would rather have her hit him and then be angry for a day or two. That would be something he knew. The thing that was happening recently though – all of those people (mostly girls), that didn't turn away from him in disgust was something he was still getting used to.

He stopped this thought when he felt something on his lap and looked down only to see a hagoromo-made tablet that started to play a recording. A few seconds later he slightly narrowed his eyes.

"You don't seem very surprised," Haqua noticed as she took the hagoromo display back.

"That's because I'm not."

"What are you going to do about that?" the purple-haired devil asked, before she reconsidered. "Scratch that! I don't even want to know. It's none of my business anyway."

Then why did you tell me that in the first place, he thought, but didn't say it out loud. Instead he whispered "thank you", but he didn't know if Haqua heard it because at this moment Kanon returned, putting a tray of food on the table and sitting opposite of Keima. The boy put his hand on the seat next to him, but Haqua was gone as expected.

"Talking to your game, again?" Kanon smiled, as she took a handful of French fries. Apparently, that's how she interpreted him moving his lips just a moment ago.

"Isn't this a little too much?" Keima evaded the question, looking at the tray. French fries, cheeseburgers, nuggets, coke. It was more than enough for two people.

"You need to eat more and spend more time with people, Keima-kun," Kanon said as she popped two French fries into her mouth.

"Tch, first Sumire, then Eri, now you. You people seem to want to feed me until I become bloated," Keima said, but nonetheless, he reached for his French fries.

"It's your fault for not taking proper care of your body," Kanon said, before her expression darkened, "though I'd want to hear more about Sumire-san feeding you..."

"It was back in November. It was only a one-time thing though," Keima said truthfully and Kanon visibly relaxed. So it was before she had used the orb.

They continued to eat and while Kanon was happy to be able to each lunch with Keima in a public restaurant like this, she didn't want for them to eat in silence.

So... she reached with her free hand and... grabbed Keima's PFP that was still on the table, pulling it towards herself.

"Hey!" Keima panicked, almost knocking down a coke bottle, while trying to get his console back.

"I'm not going to fry it, you know," Kanon pouted, "I'm just curious."

"You don't even know how to-" Keima started, but paused when he heard the telltale jingle of the PFP being unpaused,

"How did you-"

"I own a PFP," Kanon told him, "someone from the staff gave it to me along with the 'Crescent Stage' game. The seven year old version of you played it while you were time-traveling, remember?"

"You're right," Keima said, suddenly remembering it, "though that doesn't mean you know how to use a PFP," he looked at her fingers pressing the buttons, "or how to actually play a game."

Kanon blushed a bit.

"Well... I'm not a gamer like you," she started, "I don't play galges day and night... but that doesn't mean I don't admire what you do."

Keima didn't say anything, listening intently.

"It's true I think you play too much and that you shouldn't ignore reality," she pressed some buttons, her eyes clearly following the text, "but I think I can understand your gaming a bit."

"Can you?" he asked sceptically.

"Yes... after all, we aren't that different."

"How so?"

"How should I put it," Kanon went quiet for a moment before continuing. "Maybe like this. You want to save every heroine out there, give them your love, guide them to the ending and receive their love in return. You hate the real world, but at the same time you enjoy being admired by your 'lost lambs' even though they're people from the real."

"And how is that similar to you?" Keima asked, ignoring the last part of her comment.

"I want my songs resound in the hearts of everyone. I want to bring everyone joy... and be admired in return."

"But you required other people," Keima reminded her, "you were completely dependent on them."

"Aren't you dependent on your games too?" Kanon asked. "You feel revitalized while you can play... but when companies start producing bad games or when you couldn't play because of your duties, then you became as depressed as me... you just had better ways of dealing with it. It's more of a difference in skills rather than passion and determination."

"You sound almost as if you were fond of games," Keima said after a moment.

Kanon shook her head. "I'm certainly not a fan of dating sims or anything like that..." she paused for a moment, a smile gracing her lips, "but I'm certainly fan of you as a gamer, Keima-kun."

"Why?" Keima asked, torn between innocent curiosity of a human, arrogant pride of God of Conquest and embarrassment of a boy.

Kanon shrugged. "It's who you are... it what makes you, you... aww... It seems I made a bad choice," she put the PFP away, apparently reaching a bad ending. "So... I really hope to make you my fan as well."

Keima sighed. "Still trying to measure up to the game idols, aren't you?" he asked.

"Of course, I'll surpass them yet!" Kanon said cheerfully.

"You seem so optimistic," he said.

"Is it so strange?" she asked. "Your opinion on real idols went up long ago, hasn't it? You even called me a shining star, someone who has surpassed regular idols."

"That's-"

"And," Kanon continued, her eyes fixed on him, "you seem to forget something... Game idols, as perfect as they are, are still based on reality. They're not like aliens or wizards from fantasy or science fiction setting. They have limits and those limits are established by real idols."

"You underestimate the creativeness of game developers," Keima said firmly.

"Maybe, but I'm not going to give up." Kanon said, sending him a smile.

(* * *)

The good mood didn't leave Kanon for the rest of their stay in Dezeni Sea, as the idol had a constant smile on her lips. Especially when she made the two of them take a photo with one of the park mascots, surprisingly chuckling at Keima's slightly annoyed expression. Finally, the pair left Dezeni Sea, but it seemed Kanon already knew when she wanted to go next. Keima was still a bit surprised though.

"A movie?" he repeated.

"Yes," the idol replied. "I can't normally go to movie theater like that, so I want to do it while Apollo's illusion is working... unless," she glanced at him, "unless you don't want to."

"It's fine," Keima said. Truth be told, he didn't like movies beside game adaptations (and those were often crappy as well) and he certainly wasn't fond of theater full of real people. Normally, he'd only do events like that for a conquests and the thing he was doing with Kanon now was not a conquest.

However, he had promised to give this a try. Except...

"You know we can't talk, while watching a movie," he told Kanon, but she only shrugged.

"We have talked today more than we've ever talked before, so it's a win anyway."

"No argument there," Keima said as the two of them started to head towards the movie theater.

At the same time, twenty meters away, a lone figure stepped out of the shadows and hid behind the pole of a street lamp.

"I can't believe it..." the figure said in a feminine voice, her eyes fixated on the two teens as they walked away.

 **(* * *)**

 **So to summarize, we have a bit of explanation of Keima's motivations, not that it's the clearest (shape up, God of Conquest!). We have Eri being a good and silly sister, but still not completely unaware of what's happening around them. Then we have dinner at Ayukawas with Tenri once again helping Keima to find out his bearing. Then comes the date-except-not-a-date thing for Keima and Kanon.**

 **I'd want to use this author's notes to clearly emphasize what is happening here: this is truly a border between friends and more. There's no kissing or anything, but the planned future direction (at least from Kanon's perspective) is obvious. So, on one hand this is certainly not official... on the other hand, the activity is like a regular date (getting to know each other etc.), hence date-but-not-date. What'll come out of it, we'll have to see...**

 **...but wait... Keima and Kanon made the effort to go to Narusawa City to not be seen by anyone, yet as luck would have it, someone accidentally saw them, after all. Who was it? What will be the consequences? What trouble lie ahead of Kanon's path to good ending?  
**

 **We'll have to wait and see... but I had to write the next chapter first. xD**

 **As a side note, if there's a skill that Tenri has that I don't then it is falling asleep** ** **quicky**. How I wish I had such skill ******sometimes** – to just put your head to the pillow and be asleep the next minute.  
**

 **Also it's trivial, but for anyone wondering about the part when Keima mentioned being fed by Sumire, this happened way back in KamiNomiNai (flag 18 to be exact),** ** **when Sumire brought Keima lunch. This was** before the orb business even started.  
**

 **I think that's all I wanted to say. Please remember about the new progress update feature on my profile. We'll see how this one will turn out.**

 **Please look forward to the next chapter.**

 **See you later!**


	7. Flag 70: Talks and calls galore

**Hello, everyone!**

 **I'm back... finally.**

 **And I'm very sorry for posting this so late...  
**

 **Anyway, here's the newest chapter and we'll get right right to it... after the replies to the latest reviews.**

 **Guest #1:** Thank you, I'll try to keep at it. :) **  
**

 **Ghost Man:** The fate of Keima's soul is interesting, but I'm afraid his title is just in his head (and on the Internet) and he's not special... Though it would be nice if he could reside in heaven with all of his "Every lovely angel" :). Ssh! Let Keima believe he can control the flags xD. Love the sammich thing xD. Tenri-chan \0/. Lol, the wig idea is nice. Keima would be dating a different girl each time :P. Yup, Keima underestimates girls at times :P. Heh, I completely agree about Haqua. She needs this. And yup, girls are intuitive. Thank you for the compliment and I love your type of reviewing.

 **Guest #2:** I ship a lot of girls with Keima. Details are on my profile. :)

 **DarkZeta:** thank you so much for your review, it made me quite happy to know you enjoy my fics this mych. Also you don't need to be professional reviewer, to review... I think there are not many who are professional at it. I'd love to see more of your reviews. I'm also sorry it took me so long to write this chapter, but I hope it was worth the wait.

 **ZelgadisGW #1:** It's okay. Yes, Kanon's talk was the main point, but I just love to add more girls and let them interact, especially since they can add to the plot or make Kanon jealous or something :P. I'm glad you liked "I can have all of you for myself" thing, I planned for it to happen in this story long ago. :)

 **Mid or Feed:** thank you for the review and you're welcome :). I won't deny that I very much like Tenri and I can agree with a lot of what you said, but not with everything as I do care for Chihiro a lot too. And it's okay you liked the part with Tenri more, part of why I include the other girls is so various people can enjoy reading about them. I would also like to include more Haqua, but that's not easy to do.

 **ZelgadisGW #2:** It is ;). Yup, Tenri should be introduced with her full title: Tenri the Keima Mood and Lie Detector (TM) (C) :P. I sure hope I have that 'make any girl work with Keima' skill as well... though I'd mainly contribute it to Keima himself :P. Yup, let's see if your prediction was correct. ;)

 **Sir Sleeps-a-lot:** S-sorry, I c-can't t-tell you says ***as he's being shaken*** Yup, Tenri and Eri need a hug :P. I wonder if I've seen that Kanon with PFP art though... Yup, thinking about Keima was totally what you meant :P. Heh, should I start a booth with CDs or audiobook site? xD Yup, Keima needs to realize this faster and kiss Kanon instead of letting her chase you :P. Thanks for the review.

 **El Sasori:** heh, I wonder who that person is as well. I hope this chapter will solve the mystery ;). Thanks for the review. :)

 **I want to thank you for all of your views, reviews, follows, favorites and – most important of all – for your patience, as this chapter took much more time to write than I wanted it too.**

 **Anyway, I'm sure you're dying to know what happens next in the story, so onto the chapter!**

 **Enjoy!**

 **(* * *)**

"I see that those few days off have worked wonders, Kanon-chan."

Kanon turned around to one of the staff, a young female intern, and smiled.

"Yes! I had a very good time," she replied. "I'm glad I managed to catch up with my family!"

"That's great," the intern smiled as well, "especially since I saw your schedule. The next days are going to be busy."

Kanon nodded her head. That was true, as the periods after breaks were obviously the most hectic. Normally that would be a bit depressing for Kanon, but this time it was different. She was quite in a good mood and, while the lack of work and her family were obviously to thank for that, there was another reason, just as obvious as the previous ones.

And that reason was Keima.

There was a part of the idol that was a little disappointed that the thing between her and Keima was not much different from typical friendship and that physical contact was prohibited, but that part was much smaller than the other part – the part that filled her with happiness.

Their meeting went surprisingly good and it didn't even feel as if Keima-kun had been forced. This was certainly a good sign! As little as it was, she was making progress! It made her wish she had more chances to spend time with Keima-kun like that, but for now she had job to do.

"I hope you're ready," Okada appeared as if summoned by Kanon thinking of the word "job".

The pink-haired girl nodded.

"Then good luck," the idol's manager said, opening the door for her.

Kanon toggled her inner switch on, put on her her stage smile and walked through the door, immediately the flashes of cameras and the roaring of her fans embracing her.

(* * *)

The first part of the day went as expected – busy and exhausting, but more or less on schedule. Some things had to be rescheduled and Okada had to make one or two additional calls, but nothing that couldn't be managed. However, as Kanon watched Okada, she made a mental note to never become a manager of an idol – that job at times seemed even more stressful than the job of an idol, but with none of the fame.

"We'll have a short lunch break and after that we'll be heading for the interview," Okada said and Kanon nodded absent-mindedly.

Truth be told, Kanon was sure it'd be more time efficient to just eat inside the car on the way to the next venue, but she wasn't going to say it out loud, hoping for a breather.

"Kanon-chan," a member of her staff, the same intern as earlier in the morning, called her to the side.

"What is it?"

"I'm sorry I forgot, but the concert organizers wanted you to have these," the intern handed the pink-haired girl something.

Kanon blinked. "Tickets?" she asked.

The intern nodded.

"I can't accept those," Kanon said, "you should keep them and pass the to someone from your fam-"

"No," the girl said immediately and Kanon was reminded that she remembered the same girl being all timid when she had first started to work here and didn't remember when it changed. Time flies huh? "You should give them to your family and friends."

"But my parents-"

"I'm sure you have some more people besides your parents who'd want to see you."

Kanon was about to argue further, but then she closed her mouth and looked at the handful of tickets. The intern had a point – her parents had free admission to whatever concert or event they wanted to attend, but her more distant family – the one she barely saw – didn't...

...moreover, a year ago she wouldn't have anyone else to give tickets too, but this year... Chihiro-san, 2-B pencils, Shiori-san, Tsukiyo-san, Tenri-san... Eri... and Keima...

She bit her lip.

"Thank you."

(* * *)

"Hello, Kanon-chan?" the voice of Eri greeted Kanon from her cellphone and the idol had to hand it over to the female Katsuragi – Kanon was pretty sure Eri could answer her phone faster than Kanon could write an e-mail... and that was a scary thought.

"Yes, Eri, it's me," the idol said.

"Did something happen?" the dark-haired girl asked. "You need something?"

"Quite the opposite," Kanon said, the usual good feeling when making fans happy surfacing inside here. "You know about my concert that's happening soon?"

"Yes," Eri responded, "too bad the tickets are all sold out already."

Kanon couldn't help but smirk.

"It seems this is your lucky day as I have a spare ticket that I can give you for free."

"Oh my gawd!" Kanon was smart enough to put the phone away from her ear for a moment as Eri's voice boomed. "For real?!"

"Yup," the idol responded and hesitated for a moment before adding, "actually, I have two tickets."

"Ohh... so I can invite okaa-san as well!"

Kanon bit her lip. That's not what she had meant!

"Of course you can," the idol said, "but you should ask the rest of your family before deciding that, right?"

"I don't think otō-san would have the time..." Eri said, voice a little bit sad.

"I suppose so," Kanon admitted, before deciding to just get to the point, "how about your brother though?"

The line went quiet.

"Umm... Eri-chan?" Kanon said, hoping the panic wasn't audible in her voice. Did Eri figure out her intent?

"Um... nii-sama," Eri finally responded, but she sounded louder and quieter at the same time. As if she lowered her voice, but at the same time put the phone closer to her lips. As if she was a spy that was worried about other people eavesdropping. "Nii-sama's been acting weird..."

"Weird?" Kanon repated. "How so?" she inquired. She needed to know more, because she didn't know whether to be happy or alarmed.

"He was meeting with some girl."

"W-what!?" Kanon exclaimed, a little louder than she had intended. For a moment hear mind went into panic mode.

How was that possible? What was happening? Who the girl was? Was it Chihiro-san?

"Yes, it was the day before yesterday in Narusawa City," Eri clarified.

At this Kanon's mind came to a screeching halt, before the cogs in her head started to turn again in the other way and another feeling of panic settled in.

The day before yesterday was her half-date with Keima-kun in Narusawa City, Kanon thought as the realization finally sunk.

Eri had saw her and Keima-kun together!

"It's really weird, isn't it?" Eri continued. "I mean, I could understand if it was Chihiro-san or Ayumi-san... but it was some stranger girl. It's not like nii-sama at all!"

On the other end of the line Kanon was sweating bullets, thinking of what do to in this situation.

"So... you didn't recognize that girl, right?" she started slowly. "Maybe it was just too dark..."

"I didn't see that girl at all," Eri responded.

"Wait... didn't you just say that you saw Keima-kun with some girl?"

"It wasn't me who saw them," Eri said.

"What?" Kanon was once again flabbergasted. "Then who saw u-them?"

Kanon could literally hear Eri squirm on the other side of the line.

"Well... you see, I wanted to eat some rāmen yesterday, so I want to Sumire-san's restaurant."

"Sumire?" Kanon repeated.

"Yes," Eri confirmed, "I was eating at her restaurant and then she told me she saw nii-sama in the company of some unknown girl!" the female Katsuragi sounded almost whiny, apparently not comfortable with some strange girl getting close to Keima.

Kanon, wasn't thinking about that, because she suddenly connected all the dots.

Of course! Sumire lives in Narusawa City! She must have have seen her and Keima together! And since Kanon had been using Apollo's illusion at the time, Sumire had thought Keima had been walking with a girl she doesn't know!

Still, how come Keima didn't think of that? Kanon briefly wondered if Apollo should cast an illusion on Keima-kun as well.

"I've tried to ask Sumire-san about that girl, thinking she just couldn't remember nii-sama targets," Eri continued, "but when she gave me the description I was lost too!" a short pause. "This is really weird though! It's not like nii-sama at all!"

"Are you sure you're not exaggerating?" Kanon asked, now more relaxed when the mystery was explained. "Maybe it was some gaming girl Keima had met in a shop?"

"I've been in game shops with nii-sama many times, but I didn't see a lot of gaming girls," Eri said, "besides that girl had brown hair, not blue."

What blue hair has to do with this, Kanon thought. "Then, maybe it was just some girl that Keima-kun helped."

"It doesn't sound like nii-sama," Eri said, "and when Keima helps girls it usually ends with him kissing them."

"I-I know that," Kanon replied, remembering all too well the last time Keima had helped her.

"Anyway, please don't tell this to other people," Eri asked, "it would be better if we figured it out before nii-sama knows."

Luckily, Eri didn't had enough time to have Kanon make a promise, because suddenly there was some noise and Eri gave Kanon a quick "aah, it's okaa-san, gotta go!" and ended the call.

Kanon looked around. Her break was supposed to be over already, but she wasn't called yet. Then she searched for a different number on her contact list.

I'm sorry, Eri, the idol thought, but I will tell someone about this. The case was already solved anyway. She put her phone to her ear, hoping that Keima wasn't near Eri at the moment."

After three rings Keima finally replied.

"Yes?" his tone was calm, but Kanon could hear he was a little guarded.

"I'm sorry for calling so suddenly..." the idol started.

"For a person that tases people, you are surprisingly polite at times," Keima said.

"That's not important!" the pink-haired girl half-shouted before pulling the phone closer and whispered. "We've been seen!"

Kanon hadn't exactly expected for Keima to panic, but his calm voice surprised her.

"I know."

"What!?" she asked. "What do you mean, you know? How?"

"Haqua," he said simply.

"Why didn't you tell me anything then?"

A small sigh. "Honestly, I didn't think it would be an issue as long as you weren't recognized."

"Mou..." Kanon pouted in slight exasperation, "you still should've told me about it!"

"Putting that aside," Keima changed the topic, "won't this result in any problems for you?"

"Hmph, you should be the one worrying, you were the one recognized!" Kanon countered, but she was almost smiling. Whether it was trivial or not, it allowed her to speak with Keima-kun, so it was a plus!

"Kanon!" a voice called from outside the door.

The idol almost dropped her phone. She completely forgot about her break!

"Gotta go!" she whispered to her phone, mimicking Eri's actions from a moment ago.

"Kanon, are you there?" the door opened revealing Okada.

"Y-yes," the idol replied turning around, trying to act natural.

"Everyone's here," Okada said, "we're ready to go to the interview."

"What do you mean everyone?" Kanon asked. "Were we waiting for someone?"

Okada raised her eyebrow. "This is a joint interview, so we had to wait for the other party. I've told you this in the morning."

"Joint interview?" Kanon repeated. "Other party?"

"That's right," another voice interjected, making Kanon turn her head, "we should get going, we don't want to be late."

Kanon didn't reply, all the remains of her good mood disappearing the moment her eyes landed on Daisuke Nishihara.

(* * *)

"Where is your manager?" Kanon asked. "Why isn't he here?"

"He's already at the interview venue," Nishihara said, "besides, he wouldn't fit with us here."

They were currently in a car with Okada and Kanon's driver in front and with Kanon and Daisuke Nishihara in the back. And Kanon disagreed. True, it might've been a little tight with Nishihara's manager in the back as well, but Kanon would preferred it – to have someone else sitting between her and Nishihara.

"And what are _you_ doing here?" Kanon continued, trying to keep her tone neutral. She was at work, after all. "Why aren't you going in your own car with your manager?"

"The interview pertains to the airing of your latest Magical Star Maron episode," Okada explained from the front seat. Kanon had to stop herself from groaning.

It was the episode with the kiss!

"It's airing today?" Kanon asked, but she already knew the answer.

"As we speak. I suppose the episode is almost ending now," Nishihara said, smiling, "thus, an interview is in order. The fans of the show want to hear some comments from us. It was an important episode, after all," he winked at Kanon discreetly enough for her to pretend she didn't see it.

It was obvious he was referring to the kiss, but he wasn't even there at the time, which added to the level of annoyance Kanon felt. On the one hand she just wanted to scream the truth in his face and tell him to beat it... or at least politely deny that they've kissed. On the other hand, she was an idol, she had fans and reputation she needed to take care of. And somehow she felt that Keima would dislike it if she handled the situation poorly. Yes, she was supposed to be a role model and it was her own mess, so she would face it like an adult.

"Though I'm still surprised you've forgotten about our interview," Nishihara said as he closed his eyes and shook his head slightly. His smile didn't leave his face for even a second though, "are you sure you're not overworking yourself Kanon-chan?"

Kanon had to grip the support handle tighter to stop herself from reaching for her stun guns. Seriously, tasing people was behind her, but there was just something about this guy that rubbed her the wrong way.

"I had a few days of rest, which is why I forgot about the interview," Kanon replied. It was completely honest. She might have forgotten about it during her days off, but Okada had obviously reminded her of this in the morning... that particular tidbit of information just conveniently went out the other ear without Kanon registering the fact.

"Still, to forget about such an important event in the first place," Nishihara continued, apparently not picking on the fact that Kanon was not in a mood for conversation.

"Important?" she repeated.

"Our combined fanbase will be watching the interview and, excuse me if that will sound immodest, but that will be much bigger than if it was just your fans alone," Nishihara said and winked, "the number of people observing the event dictates its importance, does it not?"

Kanon was speechless. This guy liked her, right? She wondered how was that possible, since he seemed so narcissistic that the notion of him liking anyone else besides himself was absurd.

"Well, maybe it is important to you when you have one or two major activities during a day," she replied after a moment, "however, in my case each day is filled to the brim with singing, dancing, being interviewed, acting, advertising or gravure," Nishihara wanted to say something, but Kanon didn't let him speak, "I'm also still in high school, so I need to study as well. This will be my exam year and I just finished my second year exams recently, so excuse me if this interview doesn't stand out in my overall idol activities."

This was an exaggeration of sorts, as she supposed Nishihara didn't exactly spend his day just lounging in his bed. Still, what she said wasn't exactly false either. It was true that an actor's life during filming period could be quite hectic, but it didn't last all that long and outside of that period the actor activities mostly included parties and basking in their fame. Of course, Kanon was famous too, but she didn't get to relax often and had to work all day everyday for it.

Of course, one could say that actors were usually genuinely talented, while idols' singing and dancing skills weren't often stellar, meaning that idols had to work more to achieve similar results. Kanon wasn't your regular idol though. She didn't want to seem immodest herself, but she was an old-fashioned idol, yet managed to win the newcomer award and that meant something. Besides, she had heard about her talent, good voice and good looks often enough to have confidence in those.

"We're getting close to the venue," Okada, who didn't say anything during the entire exchange spoke suddenly, "I believe this is your manager, Nishihara-san."

Indeed, Kanon recognized the man standing there when the driver pulled over as the actor's manager. Nishihara sighed without stopping his smile and then looked at Kanon one more time and winked, said "see you at the interview, Kanon-chan," and with that he was gone.

Good riddance, Kanon thought, painfully aware this relief was only temporary.

(* * *)

The remaining ride was surprisingly calm and Kanon got some time to think. She wasn't thinking about Nishihara or the interview though.

She was thinking about Eri and Sumire.

How was she supposed to deal with that? Both Eri and Sumire knew something was off with Keima and they could sniff around or spread rumors if left alone. Should Kanon tell them that the mysterious girl was her and then try to make it sound harmless? Like she wanted to hang out with Keima-kun and she used an illusion for convenience? That was already not an option, as Kanon didn't admit she was the girl when Eri called. Revealing the truth now would only increase suspicion.

Maybe she should just leave it to Keima. He was the one who was seen and his poker-face skills were perfect, so he should be able to talk himself out of it or at least pursue a route of minimal damage... unless his aim was to go the route of maximal damage in order to discourage her...

No, Kanon shook her head, Keima-kun wouldn't try anything like that. Not now.

Kanon didn't have any more time to think about it, because they arrived at the venue and the preparations started.

(* * *)

The beginning of the interview wasn't too bad. Of course, Nishihara attracted attention to himself, but Kanon was not surprised. A year ago, when she was craving for attention that would bother her, but not now. However, it did bother her when Nishihara started to feel too at home – at times it seemed as if he was confused who was the host here. Thankfully, the actual host wasn't stupid and tried to rein him in, forming some sort of silent alliance with the idol. Kanon herself tried to talk mostly with the host and answer his questions without avoiding addressing Nishihara directly.

It worked for a while.

And then the topic she dreaded started.

"Now let's move onto the most interesting part of our interview," the host said, "all our viewers know what I'm talking about." he paused for several seconds for an added suspense before finishing, "the kiss."

The positive memories Kanon had of that kiss was the only reason she didn't groan.

Nishihara brushed away a lock of his hair (which was in his face by deliberate effort of his hair stylist in the first place) and smiled, showing his pearly teeth. It would be a normal reaction if he hadn't been doing that all the time.

"I think I'm speaking for everybody who has seen the episode, but that scene was marvelous!" the host seemed thrilled and Kanon was certain he wasn't faking it.

"But of course!" Nishihara said, before Kanon even thought about opening her mouth. "This is what can be done with enough talent and experience."

"Kanon-chan, doesn't have that kinda experience though, right?" the host turned to the idol.

"It's true, I'm rather inexperienced in that regard," the idol said, careful not to say that it was – or wasn't – her first kiss, "and I don't work as an actress often, so..."

"If I didn't know that, I wouldn't believe you were not a professional actress," the host said, "your performance was so convincing... as if you were really a girl madly in love."

Nishihara smiled, while already smiling. "Maybe Kanon-chan really is in-"

"You're right," Kanon smiled to the host with her eyes closed, "I may not be a professional actress, but I guess I can be pretty convincing when I do my best!"

"That's amazing, Kanon-chan!" the host said, "I guess that drama series is more important to you than I have expected."

"It's all for my fans," the pink-haired girl said, standing up and bowing in the direction of the camera, "I want to thank for all their support, because it's what let me get here and it's why I put my heart into all I'm doing," she straightened herself and gave a cheerful smile. "Please continue to support me and let my songs resound in your hearts. As long as I have the support of my fans, I'll continue to do my best. Please look forward to the next episodes of Magical Star Maron!"

"Speaking of that," the host said after a moment, not noticing the 'what about me' look on Nishihara's face, "your fans, me included, are obviously curious about what's going to happen in further episodes of the show."

"I'm afraid, I'm not allowed to speak about that," Kanon said politely, "but I can say the show will be interesting with Maron heading towards a completely new adventure."

"Adventures are great, but I'm certain our viewers are more interested in the relationship between Maron-chan and Hayate-kun," the host insisted.

"Like I said, we can't talk about what happens next in the show," Kanon said.

"Then what about outside of show?" the host said and Kanon blinked.

"Outside of show?" she repeated, hoping she understood it wrong.

"I mean the relationship between the two of you," the host gestured to Kanon and Nishihara.

The blond boy immediately perked up. "With regards to that-"

"We're just colleagues that work on the same show," Kanon interrupted him, not caring about being rude.

"Really?" the host asked. "But you are clearly able to work very well together despite being acquaintances for such a short amount of time..."

"That just shows that we match each other," Nishihara said with a pearly smile, "I certainly enjoyed the two of us working together. I think you do have a considerable acting talent and could work full-time as an actress, Kanon-chan."

"So it seems you're on good terms," the host noticed, obviously fishing for more info.

"Our relations are strictly professional," Kanon said with closed eyes. She was smiling, but for some reason Nishihara didn't exactly smile back. Maybe it had something to do with the fact that Kanon smile looked kinda terrifying. The host was certain people in front of the TVs would start to shiver as if a wave of coldness reached them.

In short, it was time to change the topic.

(* * *)

It was only an hour after the interview ended when Kanon finally had the time to catch some breath and the first thing she used it for was a deep sigh.

Considering that the interview was spent sitting it was surprisingly tiring, mostly because Kanon had to skillfully navigate a thin line between being polite and avoiding going to deep into the dangerous topics the host tried to steer her towards. Of course, this was the host's job, so Kanon couldn't blame him.

But she could blame Nishihara. The thought of him didn't make her sigh. It made her grind her teeth in anger. It was clear as day now.

The cocky narcissistic blond dolt was hitting on her!

And he didn't even love her! I mean he might be attracted to her or even like her, but it was obvious he was also interested in her fame, which he could use to further his own. So far the guy had been somewhat subtle (well... subtle-ish), but he was also persistent. Did he not understand she wasn't interested in him? Was she not being cold enough? Was she too subtle herself? Or maybe he believed she was just playing hard to get. Maybe he thought she would obviously be interested in him because of his fame or something? A phrase "girl not interested in me" probably didn't even exist in his dictionary.

Still, the fact remained that her and Nishihara were working together for the drama shooting, so as long as he wasn't too obvious or too annoying she should just endure it.

Her train of thought was interrupted when the door opened and her manager walked in.

"Is it the time already?" Kanon asked surprised and checked the clock on the wall, but no. They still had at least 15 minutes before her break was over.

"No," Okada said, "but I wanted to speak with you about your long-term career. Please sit."

"Long-term career?" Kanon repeated as she sat on the table in front of of Okada. Didn't she have like several years left before she'd need to think about doing other things than being an idol? "What do you mean?"

"I think I've just found a great opportunity," the older woman said, her eyes gleaming – a sign that Okada indeed was onto something to increase Kanon's popularity. Normally, this would be a great news... so why did Kanon feel uneasy about it?

Okada wasn't going to try removing her wisdom tooth or something?

"The interview just now, it gave me a great idea!"

Kanon felt her stomach sink.

"Please tell me it's not what I think it is..."

"You and Daisuke Nishihara should become an official couple."

No...

No, no, no, no, no!

"No way!" Kanon half-shouted immediately.

"You didn't even let me explain," Okada crossed her arms over her chest.

"No explanation is going to help," Kanon said, "I refuse!"

"I don't understand," the older woman said, "from the look on your face when you were shooting that kissing scene-"

"I'm not in love with that buffoon!" Kanon stood up, putting both hands on the table.

"But that scene-"

"That was just me being good at acting," Kanon said.

"I don't remember you being _that_ good at acting," Okada replied. "Ever."

"I still refuse to do it!" Kanon said firmly.

"Can you just calm down, please?" Okada pleaded.

Kanon remained silent for a moment and the sat down again, crossing her arms over her chest as well. Okada was her manager and was just doing her job, so she should at least let her speak and just plainly refuse when the other woman finished talking.

"You can't say you haven't noticed that Daisuke Nishihara is interested in you," Okada started.

"I don't want to sound immodest," Kanon said, "but I'm pretty sure a lot of guys are interested in me."

"But he's famous, popular and knows a lot of people," Okada listed, "this is a chance, Kanon! He could help bring your popularity to the next level!"

"I don't like him!" Kanon said firmly. "Actually, I dislike him."

"He's not that bad," Okada replied. "Actually, most women would consider him quite a catch."

"He's a self-centered snob," Kanon said, "I don't see what women see in him."

"There's no accounting for taste, I guess," Okada said, "but you don't need to like him to go out with him."

"Why would I go out for real with someone I dislike?" Kanon asked. "And would that even help? Wouldn't my fans start a nation-wide riot if I announced I have a boyfriend?"

Kanon knew she was overdramatizing a little bit, but she had no choice. She had to make Okada give up this ridiculous idea!

"I'm not telling you to marry the guy," Okada said. "And not all of your fans are young hormone-driven boys. And you're not a little kid anymore. You're supposed to be a role model of a young woman and romantic relationships are a natural part of life," she explained. "Just enter a relationship and show your fans how to be a proper young lady without making out in a middle of a street!"

"I absolutely refuse!" Kanon said.

She couldn't understand it. Okada's words sounded (somewhat) reasonable, but it just didn't sound like her. Did her manager's personality changed without Kanon noticing? Or maybe Kanon had just entered a new, darker stage of being an idol where such things were normal?

Okada didn't say anything. Instead she kept observing Kanon carefully, not batting an eyelash, as if the argument just now didn't happen. Or as if it happened just as Okada predicted.

"I see", the older woman said finally as she started to rummage in her bag. "Perhaps you're right and Daisuke Nishihara is just not to your liking," she pulled out something from her bag. "Then we just need a proper candidate."

Kanon groaned.

"Are you going to make me look at photos of male singers and actors?" she asked. "No matter what you-"

She stopped when Okada placed the item she pulled out in front of the idol. The only reason Kanon didn't gasp or otherwise visibly react was because the pure shock made her freeze.

In front of her was, obviously, a photograph, a large photograph, but it had two people in it. On the left was a brown-haired girl with a happy smile on her face, looking at the brown-haired boy next to her.

The place the photo was taken was the shooting gallery in Dezeni Sea.

The girl was Kanon disguised by Apollo's illusion.

And the boy was Keima.

Kanon could swear Okada could her the alarm going off in the idol's head.

How comes Okada has this photo, Kanon thought. I mean of course Sumire could have taken a photo, but how-

"Well?" Okada's question reminded Kanon that time to think was a luxury she couldn't afford.

"Well what?" Kanon said, fighting the urge to wipe the suddenly-there sweat from her brow. "Is that guy another rich actor or something?"

"You tell me," Okada said. "He is _your_ classmate, after all."

"My classmate?" Kanon repeated. She was sure in a moment she would hear droplets of sweat hitting the tabletop. "You know I don't know many people from school, even from my own class..."

"That's not what your mother says," Okada remarked.

"W-what?"

"But that's not really important," the other woman said. "The most important thing is that the girl in this photo," she locked eyes with Kanon, "is you."

(* * *)

"That's ridiculous," Kanon said after a few moments, somehow being able to keep her voice even, despite the fact that she was screaming inside.

Sumire wasn't the only one who had seen her and Keima-kun! Okada had seen them too!

And unlike Sumire, Okada knows that the girl in the photo is Kanon!

But how? That seemed impossible.

"I don't know what-"

"There's no use pretending," Okada interrupted her, "I've followed you."

"What?" Kanon uttered. It had to be a bluff. There was no way Okada was in Dezeni Sea at that time – it was on one of Kanon's days off!

"You underestimate me, Kanon," the idol's manager said, hands pushing up her glasses, "you see, I _knew_ something was up for a long time now and that feeling only grew stronger recently... so I asked your mother to keep me posted."

Kanon didn't reply. Was it possible that her mother asking questions about her friends and Keima was caused by her mother's conversation with Okada?

"Your mother said you were strangely excited that day. And that you told her you had to go back to your apartment for a few hours. So I arrived there and waited for you, correctly predicting that you would leave the building."

As hard to believe as it was, Kanon could accept that – she indeed had went to her apartment to get ready and Okada had had enough time to catch up. But the apartment had been where Kanon had gotten the idea to use Apollo's illusion and she had been using that illusion when she had left the building. How could Okada recognize her? She wasn't a devil or a buddy, was she?

"I have to admit I'm impressed," Okada continued, as if hearing Kanon's internal questions, "the disguise you have used was great. It hid your appearance perfectly," the manager's eyes shined, "but it failed to hide your behavior."

"My behavior?"

"I've told you already, you've underestimated me," Okada told her. "True, I've only know you for very limited amount of time. However, most of that time was you trying to complete countless number of jobs each day. Reach out to every one of your fans. Put all of your heart into your songs. Try to not fall behind with your studies. In other words, you were always firing on all cylinders, trying to do your best. And that meant a lot of stress. You can put a lid on it during a performance, but when you leave the stage it shows. When the pressure temporarily decreases is when you show little things, quirks and habits and it is my job to pick up on those. Believe me, Kanon – in some aspects I know you better than anyone else. Better than your own parents know you."

Kanon was speechless.

That kinda meant Okada had been aware that something was wrong with Kanon during Keima's conquest almost a year ago and during the week before the Mai-High Festival, even if the manager wasn't aware what had exactly happened. Probably the only reason this was happening now and not earlier was the fact that New Hell had erased some of Okada's memories as well as memories of Kanon's staff.

Another reason was that Kanon let her guard drop down a bit, but this was the fault of...

Wait a second...

"Don't tell me," Kanon said slowly, "the interview... Nishihara..."

"That's right," Okada said with a sly smile and Kanon groaned.

Now it all made sense!

Kanon couldn't for the life of her remember Okada telling her about the joint interview thing. That was because Okada _hadn't_ told Kanon about that! Her manager had planned to reveal that interview in the last moment and use it to make Kanon lower her guard! Also, a few minutes ago Kanon had thought Okada had been acting weird when she had suggested for Kanon to go out with Nishihara. Kanon couldn't understand why Okada would want her to do that. Now it was obvious – Okada didn't want Kanon and Nishihara to go out at all. It was just a ruse to further lower the idol's guard and make it easier to force her to expose the existence of Keima!

It was all an intricate trap and Kanon fell for it – hook, line and sinker.

However, what's done is done... now Kanon had to think how to get out of this mess, before Okada could-

"So, you've been meeting with a boy without anyone's knowledge," the dark-haired woman stated and shook her head, "it's not like I don't understand you, but still, you should've told me sooner, because this is a serious issue – you're violating your contract."

"I'm not!" Kanon half-shouted, suddenly glad that Keima-kun technically was just her friend. How ironic. "Ke-Katsuragi-kun is not my boyfriend!"

"And you totally don't have feelings for him," Okada said sarcastically, "I wonder how many of your songs are about him..."

"Umm... none?" Kanon could pat herself on the back for this particular reply – not only it allowed her to avoid the first part of Okada's comment, but it was also technically true as well as Kanon didn't have any songs fully dedicated to Keima... though she did have a verse or two dedicated to him here and there...

On a second thought... songs like "Autumn-Colored Unrequited Love" or "Do You Remember Love"... those songs were made after Keima-kun's conquest of her, during the time Kanon hadn't remembered him. Moreover, a good portion of the lyrics for her songs were created with the help of the staff. Still, it didn't change the fact that Kanon had probably subconsciously based some of her songs on vague and foggy feelings that remained after Keima-kun's conquest... so in a way Okada might be right here.

Still...

"I'm allowed to have feelings!" Kanon rebutted, "I'm not violating any contracts!"

"So you admit you like that boy," Okada said.

"I didn't say that," Kanon replied, making sure not to blink.

Okada didn't say anything to that. She was watching Kanon from behind her glasses, seemingly not blinking at all, the only part of her that was moving were her fingers tapping her jacket-clad arm. Okada was clearly thinking and that was making Kanon uneasy.

She... wasn't going to make her stop seeing Keima-kun, was she?

"Alright," the manager said finally, startling the idol and almost making her jump. "Wait here," she told the idol before she left the room.

(* * *)

Keima was in his room playing three of his beloved games at once. He didn't have much of a backlog, but the new school term would be soon upon him, so he wanted to use this time of peace to play.

And then his phone started to ring.

Keima briefly wondered who could that be. His family was at home, so the best bet would be one of his 'friends'. It had been happening from time to time. Usually, it would be Chihiro, Ayumi or, Keima shivered, Yui with one of her shenanigans... but this time something told Keima it was someone else. And sure enough, when he picked up his phone he saw Kanon's name on the screen.

He hoped she just wanted to continue their previous interrupted conversation.

"Yes?" he answered the call.

"Umm... Katsuragi... kun?" Keima blinked. Why did she call him that? "I'm very sorry for suddenly calling you again, but we really need to meet."

Keima sighed. "Is this about the interview?" he asked.

"What?"

"The interview with Nishihara," Keima clarified.

"Y-you've seen that?" Kanon's voice told Keima she didn't want him to see that.

"Yes," he said, "and don't worry, you were fine."

Should he even be saying this to her?

"T-that's not important!" Kanon's said, making Keima experience a slight feeling of deja vu. Was she going to say that particular line in every phone call? "Can you meet me at the Café Ambrosia? Like right now?"

Keima sighed again. So he was back to being her emotional support? Well, friend or boyfriend, that was part of his job description anyway. He just couldn't decide whether that was a good or bad thing. To decide he needed more information. Thus...

"Fine, give me fifteen minutes."

He expected to hear her elated voice, but all he got was a quick 'thanks' and the line went quiet.

(* * *)

Fifteen minutes later Keima arrived at the designated place and, sure enough, spotted Kanon sitting by one of the farther-away tables. 'Spotted' as in 'identified that this heavily-dressed person with her face hidden with a coat and a beret was Kanon'.

And she did look nervous.

"Hey," he said as he sat across the table from her, "so if it isn't about the interview, then what is it?"

Kanon didn't reply immediately, face cast downwards and barely visible, hidden by both her outfit and the shadows. Finally...

"I'm really sorry..."

Before Keima could ask what she meant by that he heard footsteps and turned around to face the waitress... only it wasn't a waitress.

It was Okada.

"Good day, Katsuragi-san," the older woman said, eyes narrowed slightly as she looked at him from above. "I'm glad you could join us."

 **(* * *)**

 **So... here it is: it was _both_ Sumire _and_ Okada had seen Kanon and Keima! And I hope you haven't been expecting that or expecting Okada at all. Of course, not everything is explained, so some stuff will have to wait for the next chapter.**

 **With that being said, Keima and Okada finally officially meet. I wonder how this meeting will go? :P  
**

 **Anyway, I wanted to once again apologize for the chapter being late. First reason was me being lazy and the second was the life getting in the way...  
**

 **...however there was also a third reason: this particular chapter was just very difficult to write.**

 **I mean it. Everytime I tried to make it work, something was not right, because I had to make Kanon and Keima communicate while... failing to communicate. Things like Eri's part were troublesome as well. Also, the interview was tiresome, because I had to actually write that conversation and I spend a good few days trying to get through it.**

 **And when everything looked nice, I realized Okada couldn't just follow Kanon after work, because Kanon wasn't working on that day, because it was her day off! It took me a while to work around it, which didn't come out as nice or clean as I would like it, but I didn't have any better ideas.**

 **Also, in the beginning the only person who was supposed to see Keima and Kanon was Okada (with readers' suspicion hopefully being cast on Sumire or Eri), but someone (*cough* ZelgadisGW *cough*) made me realize that more than one person could see them, which turned out to be a nice development in the end.**

 **So, writing this chapter was a roller-coaster: first was a good idea, that it fell apart at the seams... only for some stuff happening that actually make the threads connect nicely... even though it wasn't planned at all. You'd** ** **probably** be surprised how much of what I write is improvised.  
**

 **Some trivia: I referenced the second Light Novel of The World God Only Knows in this chapter. Also, "Café Ambrosia" Kanon wanted to meet at is the one she meets with Keima in the anime. Surprisingly, it doesn't happen in the manga. Actually... Kanon's conquest has a really weird pace in the manga. First half Keima supposedly tries to ignore Kanon, then the 'Kanon calls me 36 times a day' goes really first and bam!, we're at the last event already.  
**

 **As usual, I'm kindly asking for you to leave a review. Please follow and favorite the story if you haven't already too! Also, I feel the next chapter might not come out soon, so please just be patient with me.**

 **That's all for today.**

See you next time!


	8. Flag 71: Interrogations in the water

**Hello, everyone!**

 **I'm back... after most likely the longest break in my posting career so far...**

 **Unfortunately, life, laziness and difficulty of writing Kanon resulted in two and half month break and I'm very sorry for this. T.T**

 **I'm also angry with myself for getting this done so late.**

 **I hope this chapter will compensate for the long wait, though I'm not really sure it will...**

 **Below are replies to the reviews:**

 **Purifies Miracles:** thank you very much. 有り難うございます! *bows*.

 **Guest #1:** We'll see about that, I guess. :P

 **Ghost Man:** thanks, though I wish I'd write faster. As for Eri... I don't know. I sometimes pair her with Ryō. I bet Keima and Nora wouldn't be too happy about that :P. I like you assessment of the interview. And yes, Okada is scary. Let's see how scary, shall we? ;)

 **Red Glasses:** thank you for your opinions (though I didn't understand all you've said). Sorry the kiss wasn't to your liking.

 **Rt:** I think you misunderstood something. I don't mind harem endings. It's true I have my own vision of this entire story, but I'd actually like to do (or see) a scenario like you said. Like every girl actually actively wanting to get a piece of Keima. That'd be awesome :P.

 **ZelgadisGW:** Thank you very much for your review. I like that I managed to confuse you with the flow of this chapter. And yes, it's a trap *cue Okada-shaped Death Star pop up out of nowhere*. Let's he how the Okada Star will fare against Keima, shall we?

 **El Sasori69:** I'm not sure what exactly that comparison means, but... Shyamalan also directed "The happening". I watched that :P.

 **Sir Sleeps-a-lot:** I'm going to call that one "Apollo's excuse" meme/trope :P. Thank you for your support and for stopping shaking me :P. Compromising positions... hm... gotta use that somewhere. Heh, so Kanon got pretty used to your reviews... except for cases like explicit mentioning fu-*gets blasted against the wall alongside with you*. Hopefully, this chapter will revive you.

 **Shawn Raven:** Thank you very much for your review. nd yes, Yui is always funny to write :). And no, Keima and Kanon are not officially dating at this point, just to make it clear.

 **MasterZen:** according to my plans KusuNomi will happen after ShioriNomi, which will happen after KanonNomi.

 **Fss The Red Devil:** whoa, that's a big review. Thank you very much for it. Nooo! How can you live 5 months without anime, Internet and *gasp* fanfiction!? You lie! It's impossible! But seriously, I'm so sorry for you. Well, my birthday is not in March, just to make it clear :P. Happy birthday for you though. Once again, Kanon and Keima are not dating... it's complicated xD. I love your thoughts on Diana. Had me look up her in the mythology. Gotta make DianaNomi or a one-shot of her one day :).

 **Big Bad Beowolf:** I'm glad you're getting into it. We'll see about Yui and Shiori though. :P

 **Gersus:** sorry you had to wait so long, but here it is. I hope you'll like it.

 **Rt:** *in Obama voice* Yes, I can! Anyway, I'm glad you like my series. Please continue reading and supporting it *bows*.

 **As always I want to thank for all your support, including views, reviews, favs and follows! I'm always happy to see people enjoying my stories!**

 **Anyway, that's enough talking, onto the chapter!**

 **Enjoy!**

 **(* * *)**

Okada was silent.

She had this great subconscious need to do something with her hands, like tapping the tabletop. It was one of her habits she had picked up somewhere. She mostly did it when she was sitting and nervous and she rarely was both at the same time. She was often nervous when managing Kanon's daily idol live, but she was always standing and active, dealing with this or that.

But right now she wasn't doing that. Right now she was sitting by a dark-wood table, pretty much unmoving. And slowly, but steadily getting more and more nervous...

...and irritated.

And one of the reasons for her growing annoyance was the incessant sound of clicking.

They were currently inside one of the rooms in Okada and Kanon's workplace. Most of the time Kanon spend her days at different venues and used rooms and accommodation provided by them. However, Kanon also had an entire floor in one of the building in downtown of Maijima that Okada had rented. This floor was used mostly by other "Kanon team" members, like PR expert, music composer, interns and Okada herself. Here they had meetings, here they planned long-term events and goals. Here was where some of the rehearsals took place. Moreover, because Kanon's popularity was increasing they had rented more space in advance and thus some rooms remained dark and unused.

Exactly like the room they were in now.

The room was almost empty with some furniture and other equipment in the corners and leaning on the walls. However, all of that was barely noticeable in the darkness that permeated the room. The only exception was the center where a single light shone on the dark table. The light was hanging quite low, leaving the rest of the room unlit while shining quite strongly on the table and those sitting by it. The light also flickered once in a while, adding to the general atmosphere of interrogation.

On one side was Okada, her arms over her chest, sharp eyes observing the other person who was unmoving as well, except for the fingers, which continued to press the button on the gaming console without rest.

Okada had to admit – this wasn't going as she had expected it to go. The signs had been there from the start.

First, she had seen the boy herself walking with Kanon on the streets and sitting there at Café Ambrosia... but only when he had stood up Okada had realized how tall he was, something she hadn't noticed before. Okada herself wasn't nowhere near short and Keima wasn't all that much taller than her... but somehow the air around him seemed to make him taller.

Another thing was his behavior. Okada had expected the boy to panic when she had appeared, but he had not. He had just looked at her and... just looked. No panic. No surprise. The only thing Okada had noticed was something akin to... annoyance on his face? Maybe a quiet sigh escaping his lips? Like she was a pesky but generally harmless bump on the road.

Of course, Okada could just start the talk right there and then, but it wouldn't be as effective. Thus, she had taken Keima and Kanon into the car and had the driver take them to the office. She had purposely let Keima and Kanon sit next to each other in the back of the car, hoping to catch them exchanging words or glances. By driving in silence she had also hoped to instill a sense of fear into this Katsuragi boy, so when he would be across that table from her he'd be beyond panicked.

Unfortunately, nothing like that happened.

The only one who had looked distressed was Kanon. The brown-haired bespectacled boy didn't panic. At the café. During the car ride. Or now. Actually, he had just been playing that games of his the entire time as if fighting the boredom or ignoring everything around him. Okada had actually thought about taking that console, but she had no right to just take his possession from him...

...actually she had no right to take him here and had expected to need a good excuse to make him follow her inside the car, but no – this boy had just pulled his console out of thin air and followed her.

And here they were. Sitting by this table, their faces on the border of light and darkness, while Okada waited in heavy silence for the boy's spirit to crumble before she started questioning him, but with each passing minute she was losing hope his spirit would crumble at all.

Wait a minute, maybe it wasn't about his spirit. Maybe he was too dumb to understand the situation he was in.

"Do you know who I am?" she asked the boy.

"You're the idol's manager," Keima replied, not even lifting his head. That boy! Didn't he have any manners!?

"Do you know why are you here?" she continued.

"I think you're about to tell me that," he said. The sound of buttons being pressed never stopped.

"You think wrong," Okada said, "what is your relationship with Kanon Nakagawa?"

"We're classmates and friends," Keima stated calmly.

"Close friends, I presume?"

Keima finally stopped clicking his buttons and looked up to glance at her.

'Finally, there's a reaction,' Okada thought as she smiled inwardly, however her inner smile faded at the expression on Keima's face.

The expression screamed 'are you freaking kidding me?!'.

"Me, who had spent his life without need for friends or without need for the real and, her, a time-deprived idol? Close friends?" he said. "You must be out of your mind."

"W-what does that mean!?" Okada questioned, turning her surprise into another level of annoyance. "You make it sound like you're not friends at all!"

"Honestly, I didn't want anything to do with her at first," Keima said, going back to his game, "but I guess we did end up becoming friends of sorts."

'Are you kidding me?' it was Okada's turn to think that. "You're not seriously thinking I'm going to believe you didn't want to have anything to do with a national idol in your class!?" the nerve of this guy.

"I see," Keima's voice changed, it was less neutral and more cold, "you're another one of them?"

"What?"

"People who judge others by their own standards," he said, "real seems to be full of those."

Okada didn't say anything, looking at determination and something else in Keima's eyes.

"Besides," he continued, "I didn't even know Kanon was in my class until she zapped me and my PFP with that stun gun of hers for not recognizing her."

"You have good imagination and you're a decent liar, I'll give you that, kid," Okada said, her own eyes shining with determination, "I hope you didn't spread those lies so I won't have to sue you... yet."

"Lies?" Keima asked casually.

"Of course! Why would I believe Kanon would do that?" Okada said. "If she's done that then you must've deserved that."

"You won't believe it?" Keima said and Okada noticed his entire disposition, as if he earlier was just a ghost, but now he was a real presence. "That's my line."

"What is _that_ supposed to mean?"

"How can you not believe that? It didn't happen before? Or did you just didn't notice it?" he asked.

Okada blinked. What was he insinuating here?

"No, that's wrong," Keima continued, eyes narrowing, "how someone like you can be Kanon's manager in the first place?"

"How dare you-"

"When did you two meet?" Keima interrupted her. "I suppose you weren't her manager back when Kanon was in Citron, right? Did Kanon ever told you why she became an idol?"

An answer was on the tip of the tongue, but Okada didn't respond immediately, some strange feeling telling her to think the entire situation over. Something was out of place here. Something was off in this interrogation. And she realized what.

She was the one being interrogated.

"Did she tell you?" she bounced the question back.

"Not really, not directly at least," Keima said, "and normally I wouldn't care. But because of circumstances I had to learn it, even if Kanon didn't want me to. I had to understand her problem."

"Problem?"

"You can't tell me you didn't know," Keima said, "Kanon loves her job, at least the part of spreading her songs and supporting everyone, but it wasn't like that at first."

Okada knew it was her turn to say something, like as if they were playing shōgi and it was her turn to move. She realized it was wrong though. This wasn't shōgi. Zugzwang [1] didn't not apply here. She could just remain silent and wait to see if the other party will continue.

"At first," Keima spoke at last, "Kanon went into show business in order to prove herself-"

"That's as obvious as-"

"-AND," Keima continued, "because she felt invisible and people tended to forget or not notice her, so she strove to perform on stage to make people notice her. She's a national shining star with a lot of determination and talent, but she didn't start her career because of those. She was just a lost girl seeking recognition. It was a very selfish reason that could destroy everything... and it as well might've... if it weren't for me... and you never noticed a thing, did you? Some manager you are, to not notice Kanon's motivations and problems... or maybe you thought focusing on her contacts, contracts and money would be enough?"

"I'm not Kanon's mother," Okada reminded him.

"So you do not look after her and her mother didn't ask for you to take care of her, her career, her grades and to keep her from bursting from all the responsibility?"

Yet again Okada didn't reply immediately, her face was calm, but inside her head there was anything but calmness.

'This guy', she thought as she looked at him. If he were wearing a suit she was sure she could mistake him for a lawyer or a prosecutor.

This guy might be seventeen. He might be an otaku. But he wasn't stupid.

She had underestimated him... however, that meant there was no way she was going to let someone like that stay close to Kanon, at least not before gathering more info.

Despite all of her surprise she remained calm outside. A few silent moments have passed, her eyes not blinking as she fixed them on Keima, as if trying to see something invisible to normal eyes or look into inside of his mind.

"Wait here," she said finally before standing up and leaving the room.

Keima was tempted to raise his eyebrow. Did she falter already? Did she go to bring him some food in hopes to soften him? Hmpf, like he needed the sustenance of the real world. He had no weakness Okada could exploit and she should just realize that already! Just a few seconds after he said that he heard the sounds of heels on the floor and the door opened again. Keima looked up and his eyes narrowed slightly.

Smart move, he thought as he watched as Okada went to the dark side of the room and fetched a third chair for Kanon to sit down on. After that Okada sat at her old place, propping her elbows on the tabletop and putting her chin on her interlaced fingers. Without moving his head Keima glanced at Kanon and than back at Okada, before putting his PFP away and taking his hands off the table.

"Kanon," Okada said, her eyes not moving from Keima's face, "could you tell me who is that boy again?"

"This is Keima Katsuragi," Kanon replied, her face calm, a testament to her business and acting experience, "my classmate and friend from school."

"So the two of you meet in class?"

"Aah, not exactly," Kanon said, "I mean I was attending school to rarely to know anyone, so we never interacted in class... we've actually met on the school rooftop, soon after my newcomer award."

"And how did that meeting go?"

"Umm..." Kanon started to fidget in her seat, "I noticed Katsuragi-kun sitting on a bench and went to greet him and then it turned out he didn't recognize me and I... I zapped him with my stun gun."

"Repeatedly," Keima specified.

In a quick movement Okada's eyes switched from Keima to Kanon and then back to Keima again.

"When was it?" Okada asked after a moment.

"Nearly a year ago," Kanon said.

It went quiet.

"I see," Okada said, she looked calm, but Kanon knew her long enough to realize that she was more than irritated, "Kanon could you be so kind as to tell me what has happened during that year?"

Kanon nodded her head nervously and then started talking. She told Okada how Keima helped her, including her few daily emails ("Over thirty daily emails!" Keima corrected her) and how he restored her confidence in herself instead of letting her rely on the audience. Of course, she omitted the part about the kiss... and Apollo... and Mai-High festival, going straight to the winter and her budding friendship with other people.

Keima listened to the story, thinking.

He could see what was happening. Okada had obviously been trying to intimidate him and she had split him and Kanon up, most probably trying to see if their versions of the story would match. However, once Okada had realized that Keima wasn't some pushover, she had changed her strategy and had brought Kanon instead. Keima himself might not have a weakness , but Kanon was another matter. Moreover, Okada knew her much better than she knew Keima, so she could observe her reactions while interrogating Keima.

A smart move indeed.

"And that's it?" Okada asked after Kanon stopped talking.

"Aah, did, I omit anything important, Katsuragi-kun?" Kanon asked, turning to Keima.

Keima pretended he was thinking for a moment.

"No," he lied, "that's it."

Kanon wasn't making any bad moves either – it was wise to let Keima lie instead of doing it herself.

"Are the two of you going out?" Okada asked.

"No!" Kanon denied, her cheeks dusting red in what she hoped would be understood as her being offended at the accusation.

"No, we're not," Keima said calmly.

There was another moment of silence during which Okada's eyes went back and forth between both teens.

"I'll be frank," the manager said, her eyes narrowed, "I don't know which part is it, but I know you're lying or at the very least not telling the entire truth."

"That's..." Kanon continued to make an offended face, trying to look innocent. Thankfully, Okada was more focused on Keima, who went back to his game as if everything was solved.

"Don't you have any manners?" the manager asked, a vein started to pop on her forehead. "Put the damn games away!"

Keima didn't even look up, but his voice wasn't completely flat as he replied. "I'm free to do what I want. If it bothers you then you can go away."

Kanon had expected an aggressive response from already ticked-off Okada, but the woman's next line was surprisingly calm.

"Are those games so important to you?"

Keima didn't even reply this time.

"As strange as gaming may be, at least it explains your behavior" Okada continued, "if they're so important to you then no wonder you consider everyone around you as useless hindrances and waste of your time."

Kanon's eyes widened and she was about to try to stop Okada and explain that Keima wasn't like that, but she didn't even manage to open her mouth as she felt a shiver travel down her spine.

The clicking of the buttons stopped.

"What was that?" Keima looked up a dangerous look on his face, something that was rarely seen. Kanon also was fairly certain he heard everything right.

"Ano-" Kanon tried, but was cut off by Okada.

"I thought your eyes, not ears, were bad... I said-"

"I heard what you said," Keima interrupted her, "I was just surprised to hear it from someone as _incompetent_ as you."

"It's rich to be lectured about such a serious adult thing like professional idol management from a brat who can't even take his nose out of the screen and look at the world around him."

Keima didn't reply immediately, but Okada didn't continue her attack either. And Kanon knew why was that.

As aggressive and cocky as both Keima and Okada were, both were right here... and at the same time both were wrong, so they waited, not exposing themselves and trying to bait the other person into slipping.

Keima and Okada continued their staring contest and Kanon could feel the pressure both of them were exuding. The idol was actually surprised no sparks were flying. She suddenly felt really small, like an insignificant human bystander caught between a battle between two monsters straight from a 2004 sci-fi movie!

Suddenly, Kanon remembered something from Eri's memories. Something Eri had thought about Okada back when she had been substituting for Kanon...

 _She's a lot like nii-sama._

Now Kanon fully understood how right Eri was.

Both Keima and Okada were task-focused no-nonsense people. They were strict and resourceful, able to quickly grasp the situation they were in and proceed accordingly. True, Keima was much younger and had more than one flaw and true, Okada wasn't quite on Keima level intellect-wise, but she wasn't a pushover. Moreover, she was the interrogator here, so Keima was on the defensive overall. She even had managed to provoke Keima just now and Kanon knew why she had succeeded.

Several months earlier Keima would either not react at all or just laugh in Okada's face... but not anymore. As much as he wanted to deny it, he was much more involved in the real world than before... but he was still inexperienced with it, so Okada's jab hit a weak spot – she had insinuated he didn't or wasn't able to deal with the real world.

The pressure was increasing and Kanon was just about to go in between them when Okada suddenly leaned back and crossed her arms over her chest, her lips neutral, but Kanon sensed she had to stop them from curling into a smile.

"Let's sum it up," the woman repositioned her glasses and Kanon once more thought how Keima-like this motion seemed, "you think I'm not doing a well-enough job as Kanon's manager, right? Any more thoughts about how bad I affect her lifestyle?"

"Kanon works too much," Keima said, his voice both confident and reluctant, "also it's her last year of high school. She needs more studying time."

"So you're saying I should disregard Kanon's career and give her more free time?" Okada asked.

"Not disregard, just manage it better," Keima said.

Okada remained silent for a few seconds, before turning to the idol.

"Kanon, you remember about that show you're supposed to play in a few weeks?"

"Ara no Kinoumade?" Kanon blinked, not understanding the sudden change of topic.

"Yes, how are the preparations for that one going?"

Keima was surprised to see Kanon go a little pale.

"What preparations?" Kanon asked. "I've already said to use a double!"

"It would be better if you played all the scenes yourself," Okada said.

"B-but," Kanon seemed really panicked by now, "you know how I feel about water!"

"Can I go home now?" Keima asked, slowly losing his patience.

"But this concerns you as well, Katsuragi-san," Okada said, her voice suddenly much more polite.

"Huh?" both Kanon and Keima said.

"The thing is Kanon exhibits surprisingly strong fear of water and swimming. This is something I was never able to take care of. Maybe I'm a bad manager after all," Okada said before smiling, "so perhaps someone else should look after Kanon with regards to that task?"

The smile didn't leave Okada's lips as she looked at Keima, who looked back at her, his brain refusing to acknowledge what his ears send its way.

(* * *)

"Keima-kun as my swimming teacher?" Kanon asked when she and Okada were finally alone.

"So it's Keima-kun now?" the older woman said with a sly smile.

"Ugh," Kanon realized she had slipped up.

"Don't try to hide it Kanon, you did a good job, but I can see it clearly now... you really like that boy."

Kanon looked away, the color of her cheeks matching that of her hair.

"And he really doesn't seem interested... can't say I exactly blame him."

"W-what do you mean?" Kanon asked.

"I mean that you really zapped him with your stun guns," Okada said sternly, making Kanon flinch. There goes the scolding.

"What made you think that _repeatedly_ using not-perfectly-safe stun guns on a stranger was a good idea?"

"So you believe me now?" Kanon said. "Okada-san?"

"Did he really help you bac kduring your newcomers days?" the older woman asked.

"Yes..."

Okada shook her head.

"What a weird boy. His behavior defies logic... and I'm still suspicious about his motives."

"Then why did you have him help me with swimming?"

"Well, if it's him then maybe, maybe he'll be able to do something about it," Okada paused for a moment before adding, "and I guess this way maybe you can get closer to him."

It was a particularly long day, full of weird happenings, but the pink-haired idol still felt her jaw unhinge in shock.

"You mean you approve?"

"Obviously there are contracts to consider and you can't cross the line until you're sure you can handle the backlash from your fans," Okada said, "not to mention the boy seems to have his nose permanently stuck in that contraption of his, so I can't say I see what you see in him... but yeah, I approve... you're mother would have my head if I stood in a way of your happiness like that... just promise me one thing," she stopped walking and turned to Kanon, "if he tries anything inappropriate be sure to show him that he's seen nothing of your stun guns yet."

Kanon wide-open mouth slowly turned into one of the biggest smiles Okada had ever seen on her.

"Thank you!" she said and bowed.

"You're welcome... oh and be sure to notify me whenever you're meeting with Katsuragi-san, swimming lessons or otherwise."

"I will!" Kanon said, still beaming.

"Good," Okada looked at her watch, "now, go home and take your drama script for tomorrow with you. We wasted enough time with this."

"Hai!", Kanon said and walked around, a noticeable spring to her step.

'My goodness', Okada thought as she watched Kanon leave, 'she's really in love, isn't she'?

Okada sighed. She had known something was up with Kanon, but after the interrogation she was surprised that so little had actually happened. What did that Katsuragi guy do to make Kanon look at him that way? Was this caused by how different he was compared to the rest of Kanon's fans? And he could prove dangerous still. Yet, despite all of that, all of Okada's doubts about the boy, one more thing was clear.

Keima cared about her.

It was clear to Okada as day, especially given that Kanon had started their relations by zapping Katsuragi with her stun guns. Yet, their relationship wasn't bad. It was good actually. And he still cared for her. Maybe it wasn't the exactly kind of "care" Kanon was hoping for, but it was there. And much more than the boy willed to admit openly, much more that what was visible through strictness and coldness. The only reason Okada understood it was because her and Katsuragi were similar in those aspects.

That made Okada wonder... she cared about Kanon too... but maybe she wasn't portraying it right. Maybe Katsuragi had a point and she should be more than just a manager and pay more attention to Kanon before she misses something important again.

And perhaps the best start would be to begin supporting Kanon on non-idol related matters as well...

(* * *)

"So Okada-san asked you to teach Kanon-chan how to swim?" Tenri summed up as she shuffled a deck of cards.

"She didn't ask me to do it," Keima said, "she basically forced me to do it."

"I wonder about that," Tenri mused as she presented Keima with a hand of cards, faces to him, "pick a card and don't tell me what card it is."

"Are you suggesting what that pesky manager has done was okay?" he asked, picking a card, his eyes gliding on it for an instant.

Tenri giggled.

"What's so funny?"

"Oh it's nothing... just it's a bit funny to hear you speak like that about someone who's similar to you," Tenri said as she looked away, "now put the card back into the deck randomly."

"She's not similar to me," Keima said as she placed the card back into the deck, "am I pesky?"

"Well, some people might consider you that," Tenri shuffled the deck again, "but I think you're a great person," she then picked a card from the deck, "is that your card, Keima-kun?"

"We both know it is," he said, but his lips curved into a small smile, "you're getting better at this."

"Thank you," Tenri immediately flushed, "I practice a lot."

"Maybe you should practice less and hang out with more people instead."

"Perhaps you should take your own advice then, Keima-kun," Tenri said while preparing another card trick.

Keima snorted. "Even if I don't want to hang out with people it happens by itself!" he exclaimed. "Everyday there's Eri. Every school day I have to deal with Ayumi and Chihiro. I've been invited to eat lunches on the rooftop. To karaokes. And I'm not safe at home neither. Yesterday Nanaka just decided to drop for a visit."

"Yes, I know. Nanaka-san was at my place yesterday too," Tenri said.

"That's different!" Keima insisted. "What your mother sees is two classmate girls hanging out and that's fine. Now if _my_ mother learns about several _girls_ coming to see me it'll be a disaster!"

"I think you're exaggerating, Keima-kun," Tenri said, "you need to relax."

"It's a bit hard to relax like this," Keima pointed to the side with his thumb, where the annoyed face of Tenri's goddess was reflected in a mirror.

"Well, excuse me," Diana said, her eyebrow twitching, "I wouldn't be annoying you if you haven't come here! Why are you even here?"

"I'm reporting what happened to Tenri..." Keima said, his own eyebrow returning the motion.

"We don't _need_ to listen to any reports of yours, Katsuragi," Diana shot back.

"...I also wanted to ask for an advice," Keima finished.

It went quiet for a moment.

"Advice?" Tenri, who was about to calm down Diana a moment ago, said and blinked, for the first time looking surprised during this conversation.

"What to do with that swimming thing, obviously," Keima explained, ignoring Diana glaring at him.

"But you've already agreed, haven't you?" Tenri said. "Besides, you're Keima-kun. Why would you even need my advice?"

"Don't give me that!" Keima said. "You were the one who told me to go along with this! Take responsibility!"

Tenri thought for a moment.

"Are you worried about those teaching lessons, Keima-kun?" she guessed.

"It's obviously a flag..." Keima said.

"And you don't know how to react to that," the dark-haired girl finished for him.

"Such flags are far from unheard of in games," Keima said, "but this is not a game."

"You could just say 'yes, I don't know what to do', you know?" Diana interjected, earning a glare from Keima.

"How about you try walking in my shoes for once?" Keima exclaimed. "It's not so simple! With any other girl it might've been different, but we're talking about an idol here! If I walk away I'm not being fair and I'm breaking my promise. If I agree to date Kanon in secret, I'm risking breaking her career. If I agree to date her officially, I'm risking being torn to shreds by her fans. Seriously, every route does seem like a bad end, however you slice it."

"You're worried about Kanon-chan," Tenri stated, no asked.

"Of course, I am!" Keima exclaimed.

"My advice is: you shouldn't treat this as a a game, Keima-kun," Tenri said, "and by that I mean you should stop acting as a player."

"Do elaborate," Keima said after a short silence.

"You should just wait and see what Kanon-chan decides to do about it and then decide in your heart how do you feel about it and act accordingly," Tenri explained.

"How does it solve anything?" Keima asked.

"It doesn't and that's the point," Tenri said, "you're worrying over Kanon's situation and career too much. It's her life and her choices. All you can do is decide whether you're going to give it a try and you have already decided that you will."

"So you're telling me to just sit back and observe?" Keima rephrased. He had been the protagonist before, so handing the control to the girl kinda seemed fair.

"Yes, but as I said previously, you shouldn't do anything you think you're forced to do," Tenri said, "just be a boy and let Kanon-chan be a girl."

"I see," Keima mused. He still had his doubts, but he had an idea how to deal with some of them.

"Also," he looked up to see a smile on Tenri's face he could only describe as sly. "I want for Keima-kun to continue making reports like this."

Keima groaned. He should've sooo seen that one coming.

(* * *)

Kanon Nakagawa couldn't decide whether to be happy or nervous.

Today was her first swimming lesson with Keima-kun!

On one hand, it meant spending time with him and it was an opportunity to get closer to him. Of course, Kanon knew better than to try a frontal assault, but it was still a chance to do something. On the other hand, there was not-so-small part of her that felt anxious and not in a good way, but Kanon shrugged it off as she got off the bus and started walking towards her destination.

Maijima Water Park.

Truth be told, Kanon had expected Keima to use the school swimming pool for this, especially as it would be free, but she didn't complain. Water parks were a lot more fun. Kanon opened her phone and saw that Keima had sent her an e-mail informing her he was already in the swimming area. Kanon took a deep breath. With Apollo's illusion preventing anyone from recognizing her and with Keima-kun's guidance she could do this!

Ten minutes later Kanon emerged from the women's dressing room and entered the swimming area, eyes scanning the place for the gaming nerd. That description proved accurate as she found him outside of water sitting on one of the chairs, people giving him weird glances.

"Keima-kun, I'm here!" Kanon said and waved to get his attention and, sure enough, Keima looked at her and got up.

"Finally, you're here," he said.

"Sorry, the recording lasted longer than we anticipated," Kanon scratched her head.

"Let's not waste time then," Keima said and approached the edge of the pool, "are you ready?"

Kanon was surprised because Keima wasn't looking at her when he asked that. And a moment later she understood why, because the surface of the water broke and from underwater a familiar figure emerged, making Kanon's eyes go wide.

"Ah, good day, Kanon-senpai!" Minami Ikoma said smiling.

(* * *)

"What is the meaning of this, Keima-kun?" Kanon whispered as the three of them were in a shallow pool.

Keima was wearing simple plain light blue trunks and the rest of his body was exposed, revealing his thin frame and a little pale skin. He also didn't have his glasses. Kanon was wearing a bright pink one-piece swimsuit with frills around the hips, the outfit which looked weird with the brown hair her illusion was currently providing. Minami, as expected, was wearing her school swimming suit, except it was not a swimming suit for middle school, but one for high school.

That's right, Minami Ikoma was now a high schooler and it showed. And not just with regards to her outfit – the girl seemed to have grown at least 2 or 3 inches and the only reason Kanon was still a good few centimeters ahead was because she herself had grown a bit in the last year. The pink-haired idol also couldn't help but notice that Minami's has grown in other aspects as well... it was either that or the swimming suit was just making it more obvious. And most important of all the girl was still a little quiet and shy, but not to the extent Kanon had remembered. And she seemed a lot more... cheerful. Whether this was because of her emotional and mental growth, presence of Kanon or presence of Keima, the idol didn't know.

"What do you mean?" Keima asked back, not as quiet as Kanon.

"Why is Minami-chan doing here?"

"She'll be teaching you, obviously," Keima said matter-of-factly.

"You were supposed to teach me!" Kanon whispered, trying to keep the jealous edge out of her voice.

"In the case you didn't notice, me and water don't work well together," Keima said, "but Minami feels very good with water, so she'll be able to assist us."

"She might like water, but she was never a very good swimmer, right?" Kanon asked quietly, not sure why she was saying that, even if it was the truth.

"She doesn't have to be to teach you," Keima said, "besides would you rather have me go fetch one of the professional instructors over there?" he pointed to the lifeguard station. "I'm sure they'd love to tutor a famous idol like you."

"Being taught by Minami-chan is fine," Kanon replied immediately. As if on cue the younger girl approached them and smiled nervously.

"Let's start then," Keima said.

(* * *)

The following lesson was a weird experience for all three of them.

Minami seemed torn. On one hand she was overjoyed at the contact with water and to spend time with her senpais. On the other hand, she was obviously nervous and a little tense, as if she had also thought she wasn't qualified to teach someone like Kanon anything. The idol had a suspicion the only reason the younger girl agreed to this was because Keima asked her to do it.

That thought irked Kanon and she had to stop herself from frowning or pouting as she did what she was told to do.

Keima himself seemed resolved to make this lesson as efficient as possible, making Kanon do whatever Minami suggested, not leaving much room for objections.

"T-that's right, you should keep your legs underwater, not letting them break the surface," Minami instructed from the side as Keima held Kanon's hands and walked backwards, letting the girl swim forward by paddling her legs.

"G-great job, Ka-I mean Tōyama-senpai", Minami said, using the name they've agreed to call Kanon with, suddenly sounding even more nervous as she continued, "now let's do that without Katsuragi-senpai helping you."

"W-what?" Kanon exclaimed. "I can't! I'll sink!"

"You won't," Keima said and Minami nodded her head as well, "Your displacement will keep you on the surface, especially if you take a deep breath before it."

Kanon thought about it for a moment, not really wanting to try. Suddenly she realized how smart was it for Okada to force Keima to do this – he might be the only one Kanon would listen to in a situation like this.

She tried to do as she was told... but, as expected, her body submerged, making Kanon close her eyes and immediately leap back, stopping and coughing.

"Why did you do that?" Keima asked.

"Liar!" Kanon said back. "You said I wouldn't sink!"

"You didn't!" Keima said.

"But my face-"

"You can't expect your entire body to stay above water, of course it will submerge!" Keima interrupted her. "But you won't sink. Just take a deep breath and try it again!"

"Ganbare, senpai!" Minami chimed in.

"Uh..."

(* * *)

In spite of Kanon's thoughts and doubts, the next half an hour went rather well in her opinion. She still felt nervous and she had drunk some water, but now she could mostly stay near the surface for a while, especially after Minami had made her float on her back, letting her get used to supporting her body by water without getting it anywhere close to her face. She was even starting to relax.

"Okay, let's get out," she heard Keima speak and opened her eyes. Get out? Already? It wasn't even an hour. And she had spend all that time learning how to swim instead of getting closer to Keima-kun.

They got out of the pool and Kanon was ready to head to the changing room, when Keima stopped her.

"Where are you going?" he asked. "We're not leaving yet."

"Where are we going then?"

"Let's do something else," he said, going in the direction of... the sliding chutes and other water park attractions! Yes, that certainly sounded more fun! Kanon started to smile and followed Keima happily until he stopped midway there.

"What are you doing?" he asked. "Get in."

"Huh?" Kanon exclaimed, following where Keima was pointing to, which was another pool.

"What are you getting surprised for?" Keima asked. "We can't do any more stuff in that shallow-ass pool, so we're moving to this one."

"T-that previous pool was fine," Kanon stuttered.

"It was a pool for children," Keima told her, "even at the deepest place it has only 120 centimeters!"

"B-but this one is too deep!" Kanon exclaimed, her voice increasing in both height and volume. "It's over two and half meters!"

"Only at the other end," Keima said, "at this end it starts at 130 centimeters. The water will go only up to your shoulders!"

"But I won't be able to reach the bottom quickly with my legs when swimming!" Kanon said even louder.

"That's the point," Keima said, noticing that people were starting to look at them, "look, you won't learn it if you keep to that shallow pool."

"Katsuragi-senpai is right," Minami interjected softly.

"But-"

"Me and Minami will support you, so you don't have anything to worry about," Keima reached out with his hand, "let's go."

Kanon looked down at his hand and then back up at him.

"No."

"What?" Keima asked, incredulous.

"I want to keep to the smaller pool for now," Kanon said.

"Don't be ridiculous!" Keima said. "I did not get roped into this for... for this," he grabbed Kanon's hand and pulled softly, but Kanon didn't budge.

"I don't want to!" Kanon said.

"It's just a pool," Keima tried to reason with her. "We have deeper pools at school!"

"I don't attend classes, remember?" Kanon said, trying to pull her hand back, but Keima didn't let go.

"Well, you are now," Keima said and tried to pull her into the pool with a sudden motion. He seemed to succeed, making Kanon move forward, but then the pink-haired idol made some strange motion as she was passing Keima, grabbing him and tripping him with her leg, half-dragging and half-throwing him into the pool, staying on the edge and watching as he crashed into the water.

(* * *)

"I'm really sorry," Kanon said five minutes later.

"Hmpf!" Keima snorted with his arms crossed over his chest.

The two of them were sitting on the benches located a little away from the pools, watching the people in the water. Minami was in a nearly Olympic-size pool, deciding to step away for a while as Keima seemed actually angry.

"Oh, come on," Kanon said, trying to sound exasperated, but inside she was anxious, "it's not like I got your console destroyed this time..."

"It's not about that!" Keima exclaimed turning to her, his eyes narrowed. "It's about you attitude!"

"My attitude?"

"It's clearly not a simple case of you not knowing how to swim! You don't fear water itself. You obviously can't swim, but you don't have a big problem with shallow water, yet what you did when I tried to get you into a normal pool was like a judo throw girls are taught for self-defense!"

"I'm sorry!"

"Sorry doesn't solve anything!" Keima told her, not paying any attention to people passing them by giving them weird glances. "I brought you here because I thought this environment would be more therapeutic and would let you relax afterwards. But I can't teach you if you don't cooperate. I need to know what the problem is before I can help you," he looked straight at her, "preferably I would like to know that _before_ you start using stun guns on me and turning invisible."

Kanon felt a very weird feeling of wanting to laugh and bite her lip at the same time.

"I won't believe a girl who relied on me for the most trivial insecurities doesn't trust me now," Keima continued, "is it so traumatic you can't talk about it? Should we look for professional help after all?"

"No!" Kanon said a little louder than she intended, before she went silent.

Keima sighed quietly. This was tougher than he had thought. The "throwing someone in at the deep end" approach hadn't worked. Moreover, practicing at the shallow pool would take a lot of time and by now Keima understood it wouldn't solve the actual issue, whatever the issue was. Back in his conquest days he would know what to do – he would prod and probe to discover what has to be done to complete the route. But he wasn't exactly on a route right now and this was not a game. And most important of all, some games had player make some kind of sacrifice to progress. Some games had people die. And there were countless bad endings, especially with games like Crayon that were full of bugs. But even in such games a player could try over and over again. Reaching a good ending with a heroine was a success, no matter how many trials, errors and save/load cycles it took.

But this was not a game. There was no load option. Every thing he did would have consequences. He had learned that the hard way with Chihiro, Tenri and some other girls. Here he had to be careful or he would be risking hurting the only people precious to him, many of who he had hurt before. Especially...

"It happened over 10 years ago," Kanon suddenly said, making his train of thought come to a halt. Keima chose to remain quiet for now, hoping for the idol to say more.

"It was shortly after you traveled in time, Keima-kun, in August," Kanon continued slowly, rising her head, "back then I considered school to be a boring place... but I enjoyed spending time with my parents. You see, I was a single child, so if there's anyone who never forgot or ignored me it were my parents... "

This time the silence was longer.

"One day we went to the sea and I was really excited for that," the idol continued, "we have set up and we went swimming. Of course, I was wearing a swim ring and my parents were watching over me... I was a really curious kid and my father kept having to tell me to not go away too much. It was okay for a while," Kanon smiled a sad smile, "looking back on it, I was really unlucky on that day. At one point the current slowly made me drift away. Normally, my father would have reacted, but there was another similar kid there and my father mistook that kid for me."

"Of course, I didn't notice anything and kept drifting into another part of the shore, but also further into the sea, where waves were. As luck would have it, wind also picked up speed and the waves got bigger. I was alone there with no-one close to me, beach barely in sight. I started to get scared. I started to scream for my dad, but he obviously wasn't anywhere near. Eventually, someone noticed me and a lifeguard went to help me. It would be a traumatic experience anyway, but it didn't end just like that."

Keima listened to everything, not rushing her.

"I didn't notice it at first, but there was another guy, swimming somewhere between me and the shore and to the side" the idol said finally, "I think he wanted to be a hero. He swam to where I was. Both me and him thought it would be simple. He could swim and I was light, so what could go wrong there?"

"When he arrived next to me, I was already panicking for a while and scared out of my mind, so I immediately jumped on him. The guy was surprised by it. Apparently, he didn't have a training about helping a drowning person and I was nowhere near capable of calming down. It wasn't easy for him to haul me back to the shore."

Keima knew this wasn't the end of the story and, he suspected what was coming next.

"The guy have been swimming for a while before noticing me and underestimated his stamina on this. And then a big wave broke upon us. I panicked again and cling to him. And then he panicked as well. The man who was supposed to save me and my only help at the moment started to go under the surface with me."

"I don't know what happened directly after that," Kanon said slowly, "I woke up on the shore. Apparently the lifeguards saved us. I remember that dad got really angry. That was the only time he have hit someone. He hit the guy who was trying to save me, but just made things worse. It was a big shock."

Keima briefly wondered if that traumatic experience with Kanon being all alone far away from the shore with no-one noticing her disappearance was where her "no-one knows me" issue had really started.

"After that incident my parents started to be really careful with me for a while," Kanon added after a moment.

"I'm surprised they let you become an idol," Keima remarked.

Kanon shrugged. "It wasn't anything that big at first and mom and dad saw how much I wanted to do it," she said, "besides it'd been several years after the incident, so they thought I was fine. I did went to pools with them afterwards and I didn't really have problems with shallow water around them," she paused, "it's just... that every time I have to go deeper... I start to panic... as if... I don't know..."

"As if you were going to be left alone again and like you were about to fail," Keima finished her, the amazement at his accurate assessment covered by the shame Kanon suddenly felt.

"I'm sorry."

"Don't be, it's not your fault" Keima said softly, "if there's anything you should be sorry for is not telling me about it sooner," he then shook his head, "I should've known it wasn't so simple after you manager couldn't solve it."

"Is it even possible to overcome it then?" Kanon hugged her knees, "I-I mean, what if this won't get fixed no matter who tries to help me? What if I'll had to forever live with-" she didn't say more as she suddenly saw Keima crouch in front of her and softly put his hands on her shoulders.

"Wha-"

"Kanon," Keima said slowly with that peculiar focused voice of his, which was both soft and commanding at the same time. And his eyes were trained on hers.

As weird for a public swimming pool as it was, Kanon suddenly felt her mouth go dry.

"You can't think like that," Keima continued, "did you already forget? About the concert back then by the waterfront?"

"What do you-"

"You can't depend on other people unconditionally like that!" Keima reminded her. "Sure, they may help you. They may want to help you. Sometimes you won't be able to do everything without them. Especially when you're young. That's why we have parents for. But still, you're you!" he said. "You need to live your own life. Have your own beliefs and goals, instead of waiting to see what others will decide for you."

"I'm not sure I understand," Kanon said.

"Maybe the reason you can't do it is because you still think you're that small girl who believes she won't make it without someone else's hand. But you're not that little girl anymore," Keima told her firmly. "You're Kanon Nakagawa. The Japan's shining star. I know you can do it, but most importantly, _you_ _need_ to know that _you_ can do it! You can't do it because _they_ want you to be able to perform before camera. _You_ need to do it because _you_ want to fix this!"

Kanon was quiet for a moment, mouth slightly agape as she looked at Keima, before she regained her senses.

"Letting others help me, yet not relying on them?" she summarized. "That's kinda self-contradictory. Not to mention rich coming from the guy who does everything alone."

"You need to have more of your own resolution and expectations instead of doing it because someone wants you to do it," Keima clarified, "and yes, I was like that, but not nearly as much anymore," he hesitated, "you know that right?"

"I wonder," Kanon teased him, "but I see your point," she thought about it for a moment, "maybe you're right..."

"You don't need to act upon this now... just think it over," he told her, before he started walking away, "I'm going to buy some juice for us."

Kanon continued to watch as Keima walked away until she felt some shifting and rustling next to her and turned to see Minami where Keima was previously sitting.

"Are you alright, Kanon-senpai?" the younger girl asked.

"Y-yes," the idol responded, once again embarrassed by her earlier outburst.

"I'm glad," the brown-haired girl said quietly. Kanon noticed the water dripping down the younger girl's body. The idol smiled.

"You really like water, right, Minami-chan?" Kanon asked, making the younger girl blush.

"I do," Minami responded slowly, as if she was thinking about some distant memory.

Kanon could understand that. For Minami swimming was like singing was for Kanon. Like shōgi was for Nanaka. Like rāmen was for Sumire. Like running was for Ayumi... except...

"How is your swimming at school?" Kanon asked.

Minami at the same time livened up and shrunk a little as in embarrassment.

"It's good," she said, "I mean I've just recently started going to high school, so it's a lot of work, I've to prepare for a meet-"

"You'll be in a meet?" Kanon asked.

"Oh yeah... I will," Minami answered blushing.

"So your skill have improved?" the idol asked, remembering what Minami had said last year on that memorable day when the girls had cornered Keima on the railway station.

"Uh-huh! I've been training hard!" Minami said smiling, "though... I have Katsuragi-senpai to thank for that."

"Huh?" that piqued Kanon's curiosity, "d-did Keima-kun... helped you or something lately?"

"Well, not really," Minami said, fixing her frizzled hair, "I mean... when Katsuragi-senpai had helped me back then at the Tanabata festival, I thought he has just meant for me to become stronger after closing one chapter of my life and move forward onto another... like I was supposed to not have regrets about stopping swimming and doing something else... but instead something different happened. I was back to swimming, even though I didn't have any reason to do it besides fun. And even weirder, I suddenly noticed that despite it becoming a hobby I suddenly started to get better."

"That is indeed weird," Kanon admitted.

"It's not just me though. It was similar with Kasuga-senpai." Minami said.

"What do you mean?"

"The way Katsuragi-senpai did it, Kasuga-senpai just agreed to let her feminine side have a go, but only after she reached the pinnacle of martial arts," Minami said. "Until then she was supposed to keep her feminine side suppressed. But something different happened instead. Kasuga-senpai decided to continue her martial arts training, but embraced her feminine self a bit as as well."

Minami's right, Kanon thought. It had happened with Nanaka too – even though her conquest had ended with a victory, she had also learned to deal with defeat. The idol had never thought the little swimming girl could be so insightful.

"I think Katsuragi-senpai is amazing," Minami said, further proving the point, "at first I thought he was weird and a little creepy too and he sometimes is... but he can do all sorts of things and had helped me so much... I think I didn't give him enough credit. Didn't thank him enough... are you alright, Kanon-chan?"

"Y-yes," Kanon said as she used her forearm to cover and wipe her face, so Minami wouldn't see how touched she was.

This girl... she was so innocent and sweet... she thought she didn't thank Keima enough? Then what was Kanon herself supposed to say after tasing Keima repeatedly and throwing him into the pool when he was just trying to help her?

"I think Keima-kun is amazing too," Kanon said, "he was amazing before, but after he has changed he's... I don't know... he seems like he's changed, but at the same time he still feels like the old Keima-kun," the idol paused to think for a moment, "I'm glad I've met him... but maybe I shouldn't have dragged him into this."

"Katsuragi-senpai was dragged into this?" Minami asked, surprised.

"Umm... yes... my manager had him teach me," Kanon said, feeling she had already told the other girl too much, "it's a long story."

Minami thought for a moment before she spoke. "I don't think Katsuragi-senpai was forced to do it."

"Why would you think that?"

Minami shrugged. "If Katsuragi-senpai wanted to get out of this, I'm sure he would find a way to do so."

Kanon had to admit the younger girl had a point.

"You mean he's doing it willingly then?" Kanon asked and Minami nodded. "Why?"

"Because he cares about you," Minami responded instantly as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

Kanon didn't reply, feeling a wave of heat invade her cheeks. Calm down, she told herself, Minami only means it as help between friends.

And then Minami spoke again.

"You like Katsuragi-senpai, right?"

Kanon's entire body stiffened as she looked at the younger girl with a nervous smile and the worst version of poker face imaginable.

How come _Minami_ had figured her out of all people!? Suddenly Kanon felt as stupid as Apollo ("hey, I've heard that!", a voice at the back of her heard complained).

"Aah!" Minami suddenly seemed to realize what she'd said. "I'm sorry I didn't mean to pry or anything it's not my business anyway!"

"What are the two of you doing?" both girls were sparred any further embarrassment when Keima returned, three cans of juice in his hands.

"Here," he said handing both of them their cans, "where are you going?" he asked as he saw Minami immediately stand up, her face red.

"I'm going to swim," the brown-haired girl said as she went in the direction of the pool.

"You're not supposed to run at the pool," Keima said after her, "and are you going to swim with a can of juice in your hands?"

"Says the guy who swims with PFP in his hands," Kanon teased, making Keima turn to her.

"I see you're in a much better mood now," he noticed.

"I guess you could say so," Kanon replied.

"Wanna go try the slides or something?" Keima asked.

"Huh?"

"I chose a water park to do this for a reason," Keima said, "I thought you and Minami could relax after the lesson," he explained, "so we might as well do that now."

Kanon thought about it. She definitely wanted to do that and spend some quality time with Keima-kun. However, his words echoed in her mind, telling her she was a grown girl now, not some 7 year old kid and it was time to do something, instead of letting the others' efforts go to waste.

"I agree," she spoke as she stood up, a new wave of determination surging in her, "but we'll do that just like you said – after the lesson is over."

After all if Minami Ikoma had managed to grow up, move on and achieve her goal, then Kanon Nakagawa, the idol of the masses, had no right to complain.

"Let's get back into that pool."

 **(* * *)**

 **[1] Zugzwang, or "compulsion to move", is a situation in chess or similar games where players are required to make a move every turn. One is said to "be in a zugzwang" if he/she would prefer not to move at all, but rules force him/her to move (basically any move available worsens the situation, while not doing anything wouldn't worsen it)...  
**

 **...in this case Okada implies this does not hold here and, as long as she keep poker face, she doesn't have to answer and can just wait for Keima to continue #longexplanationofunimportantdetail.**

 **Ok, so there you have it: Okada was kinda pwned by Keima, while Kanon was nervously listening to the exchange. Then Okada ropes Keima into helping Kanon to learn how to swim.**

 **Then we have Keima obediently reporting the happenings to Tenri for some weird reason.**

 **Then the first swimming lesson happens... with weird assistance of Minami and with Kanon being stubborn...  
**

 **...then we learn more about Kanon's past and where her water problem stems for.**

 **Then Kanon has two conversations with Keima and Minami after which she decides to fight against the watery element.**

 **I wonder how this will go from here.**

 **Also, the references in this chapter are brought to you by Alien vs Predator (2004) movie, by Nagi no Asukara anime and by Nao T** **ōyama, Kanon's seiyuu. :P  
**

 **Anyway, once again I'm really sorry for being this late. Unfortunately, I can't give any guarantees about when the next chapter will be out, as plot is not easy to come up with (once again, you'd be surprised how much of this chapter was not planned).**

 **As I mentioned before, you can follow chapter progress on my profile page.**

 **If you know how late I am and still think I deserve a review, please drop me one. I really like to hear your opinions and know that my stories are appreciated.**

 **I think that's it for now.**

 **See you next time!**


	9. Flag 72: Yellow-ribbon submarine

**Hello, everyone!**

 **I'm back yet again!**

 **I'm sorry that you had to wait over 6 weeks for this, but at least this chapter was posted faster than the last one... also this chapter turned out to be over 12500 words (without author's notes)... and this is the reason I decided to split it into two chapters of more acceptable sizes (yes, apparently nearly 9000 words is "acceptable size"). Frankly, I'm not the happiest about that, because the cutting point is not the best, but I couldn't find any other way to cut it.  
**

 **And don't worry, the second chapter of the two** ** **is pretty much done** and should be posted in under a week.**

 **I want to thank you very much for your patience and for your support. Here are replies to the latest reviews:**

 **Big Bad Beowolf:** Thank you very much for you kind words. I can't guarantee how fast will the relationship progress you seek happen. But it will come at some point. Just stay patient. :)

 **Purifies Miracle:** Okaay, not sure what you mean by Nikon, but I'm glad my chapters make you happier. :P

 **Red Glasses:** sorry, but I pretty much don't get what you're saying. **  
**

 **Sir Sleeps-a-lot:** Thank you very much for your in-depth review. You're completely right, there's not enough Kanon's song references. Hopefully I'll fix it soon. I'm glad you liked the Okada-swimming-life-story plot. :) *stumbles a little when you jump on me, before I start to run* How did it end up with Kanon chasing me? Shouldn't my author skills control that? I feel so Shiori now. xD

 **El Sasori69:** It's not yet the time for Minami to get aggressive. Then again, I wonder how aggressive Minami would look. And thank you for the review. :)

 **ZelgadisGW:** I'm glad you liked the "Keima meets Okada" scene and the "conversations near the pool" scene. Also, am I detecting "everything right with" reference there? :P

 **Rt:** thank you for your reviews. No, I'm still here, though it does take a lot of time to prepare the chapters. Also, next time you want to know what is the progress on my next chapter, you can check it on my profile (near the bottom, above the list of my stories). I'd respond to your question with a Private Message, but you reviewed as a guest and not as a registered users. Thus, I want to suggest for you to create an account on this site. As for your "Vulcan villain" idea... I'm very not sure about this. Keima learning about that stuff is kinda hard to control and kinda messes with one of the important points on how this entire "orb business" is supposed to work. The part about the feelings being stored in the orb and seeping out alone is not bad though, so I might use it somewhere in the future. Thanks for suggestion.

 **Mid or Feed:** thank you very much :). As for "Keima vs. Okada" scene, well, Okada might be less brilliant than Keima and not prepared (Keima knows a lot more), but she isn't exactly a pushover and could use some Keima-level arguments. Also, Keima is at this time getting a little more to the real, which makes him a little more vulnerable. In general, Keima is changing, so he might become OoC compared to his old self. This particular scene just happened to emphasize it, I guess.

 **Ghost Man:** thank you very much for your reviews and pointing out the typos. Okada didn't know who she was dealing with, so she has an excuse :P. And yep, she played it well. Heh, in my opinion Tenri managed to one-up Keima at more than one occasion in the manga :). Also, let's see if Kanon will swim or sink to the bottom as a rock. :P

 **Okay, that's it for this author's note. Let's get into the chapter, right where the previous one ended.**

 **Enjoy!**

 **(* * *)**

"I can't do it after all!" Kanon shouted, sputtering the water around.

"Don't give me that!" Keima said angrily as the idol caught onto a nearby safety line. "You barely done anything!"

Minami, who was right next to Keima and seemingly effortlessly staying on the water surface nodded slightly in a shy agreement.

"But I can't go under!" Kanon complained. "My body just stays on the surface!"

"Seriously?" Keima asked. "The first time we've done this water thing you complained you were going to drown and now you're complaining because you float on the surface? How about a little consistency?"

Kanon bit her lip and Keima sighed.

The three of them were in otherwise empty swimming pool of the sports center building of the Maijima Private High School, over two weeks after the first swimming lesson Kanon had. **(author: okay, maybe not where the previous chapter ended :P)** Because of the idol's tight schedule and the difficulty of getting the pool all to themsveles it was only their fourth session, but compared to the unremarkable frequency of meetings, the actual progress of Kanon's swimming skills was spectacular.

Near the end of the first session Kanon's nervousness and fear of water had been substantially decreased. Then, as promised, the three of them had gone for the fun part of the Maijima Water Park, which Kanon's had enjoyed almost as much as Minami had. It had been the first time in forever when the pink-haired idol truly enjoyed contact with water. That coupled with the possibility of spending time with Keima again had smashed the remnants of her water anxiety to pieces.

The second session had been divided between "learning to swim" part, where Kanon had gotten more comfortable with staying on the surface of the water and "having fun" part. After that second meeting Keima had decided that they should focus solely on the "learning" part and thus the third session had happened in the Mai-High swimming pool. At the end of it Kanon had learned the basics of several swimming styles, but she had kept her face above the surface at all times. Which had led to the topic of today's lesson.

Diving.

"Umm, the reason you stay on the surface is the air in your lungs," Minami interjected, "you need to expel it. Then you'll dive."

"But I can't dive without air!" Kanon complained.

"You can survive 15 seconds without air," Keima said, "besides your lungs won't get completely empty. Even when you expel to the best of your ability there's still a liter of air remaining!"

"Senpai is right," Minami said in case Kanon wanted to doubt his statement.

"Do we really need to do that?" the idol asked.

"We do and you know it," Keima said, "you're supposed to play the role of a nautical creature. That means being able to stay underwater. Besides," he crossed his arms over his chest, "me and Minami didn't reserve 3 hours of our time and this pool to be done in an hour or spend the time doing what we've done previously."

"Please, just try again, senpai!" Minami said, apparently preferring for both of her seniors to come to an agreement.

(* * *)

Kanon did as she was told, exhaling as much air as possible and finally succeeded to some degree. They repeated this a few times, but during one of the exercises Kanon resurfaced quickly and started to thrashing her limbs around, seeming regressing to the first session.

"What happened? Easy, easy!" Keima added the last part when Kanon tightly clung to him, as if he were a rescue buoy.

"I-I tried to open my eyes and then it suddenly stung," the idol said, rubbing her eyes over and over, the burning feeling not fully subsiding.

Keima sighed.

"I figured eyes would be a problem at some point," he said.

"I can just dive with my eyes closed," Kanon tried, but predicted the reaction.

"No you can't!" Keima said firmly. "You need to be able to see where you're going underwater."

"But it stings!" the idol complained.

"I know it feels that way at first," Minami interjected uncertainly, "but it's mostly the fear of opening your eyes. Once you get used to it it'll be okay!"

"It's not so easy to do when I have to swim as well..." Kanon noticed.

"Then maybe we could do it differently," Minami said, "there's an exercise where you expel the air and sink to the bottom of the pool, sit and then open your eyes. When you need to surface you just kinda move as if you wanted to stand up and jump," she explained.

"I can't get to the bottom here!" Kanon said in panic.

"It's okay, we can move to the shallow parts for that," the younger girl suggested.

Kanon wasn't too certain about it. In any other situation she'd argue. But Keima was there, sacrificing his time for her sake. And she wanted to impress him with her courage (well, more like lack of fear). To continue spending time with him. And thus she agreed.

(* * *)

They moved to the shallowest part of the pool and Kanon tried to do what she had been told – expel as much air as possible, pinch her nose and dive. It wasn't as if there was no progress, but Kanon still couldn't drop to the bottom of the pool and panicked after trying to open her eyes.

"It's stress that holding you back," Minami diagnosed, "you need to relax and motivate yourself more."

Kanon thought about it for a moment. Something that would help her relax...

"Can we take a 10 minute break?" she asked.

Minami nodded before Keima could say anything. "I need to go to the bathroom anyway," she said, before swimming in the direction of the nearest ladder.

This was exactly what Kanon wanted. As soon as Minami was out of the earshot, the idol tossed Keima a meaningful glance that made the gamer raise his eyebrow.

"What are yo-"

"Let's do it together," she said.

"What?" he questioned, his voice not fully level. What did she mean by _that_?

"I can't do it on my own right now," Kanon said and paused, her cheeks reddening before she continued, "b-but... but if Keima-kun would do it with me and hold me close, t-then I'm sure I could do it."

Keima was thinking. The ways she had phrased it was vague, but he understood what she had meant – if he were to embrace her and sink with her, she would feel safer. And she'd open her eyes more willingly if she knew that the sight in front of her would include Keima.

"Let's get it done before Minami returns," he said, getting closer to her.

Kanon tried with all her might to stop herself from beaming.

"Like that," Keima said as they held hands, "now breath out. On three. One... two... three!"

They dove together, crossing they legs as if they were sitting. This time they've reached the bottom and Keima squeezed Kanon's hand, signaling her to open her eyes. She tried to to so, but it stung again. She started to panic, bubbles of air escaping her mouth. She was just about to propel herself up, when she suddenly felt a hand clamp over her mouth.

She opened her eyes in surprise.

The first thing she felt was disappointment as her vision wasn't very clear. She briefly wondered if this was how Keima viewed the world when not wearing glasses. She could also feel her eyes burn and sting. Her lungs demanded air as well. A familiar sense of fear clenched her stomach.

But she could see.

In front of her was Keima, one of his hands still on her mouth, the other on her shoulder, steadying her. She couldn't see them, but she _knew_ his eyes were fixed on hers, trapping her even more than his hands did. Her eyes still stung, but this couldn't compare to the burning she felt where his hands were on her body, keeping her in place. The need to breathe was getting stronger, but Kanon fought it. Minami would not be in the bathroom forever and Kanon would rather not have the younger girl see them like that. And they definitely won't have another chance to do it today – this might as well be the closest she'll be able to get to Keima-kun in a while.

So she faced her panicking senses bravely, and his presence gave her all the courage she needed.

(* * *)

"Congratulations, Kanon-chan!" Minami exclaimed happily hour and half later when Kanon emerged from the water after successfully traveling several meters completely submerged. It had taken have many tries, but she did it!

"Great job," Keima praised her as well, "I suggest we finish for today. We'll meet in two days."

"Um, I don't think I'll be able to come," Minami said.

Keima shook his head. "Kanon has learned the basics, so I can take it myself from here," he said, "and that will be our last lesson. After that you should train on your own or have someone from your staff assist you."

Kanon nodded. "Thank you very much for your help, Minami-chan," she told the younger girl, "if you ever need tickets for one of my concerts..."

"You don't have to thank me," Minami replied with a heavy blush, "I-I think I'll swim some more," and in a blink of an eye she was in the other part of the pool, swimming through the water like a miniature speedboat.

"I don't get it why she still wants to swim after staying in water for 3 hours like that," Keima said, looking at the wrinkles on the skin of his fingers.

"I disagree," he heard Kanon speak behind him, her voice distinctly cheerful, "I think I understand why she likes it so much."

Keima turned around and saw that not only her voice was cheerful.

Kanon was leaning back on one of the safety lines, her arms spread, but barely touching the rope, letting it rest on her shoulder blades instead. The water was reaching her breasts level, small waves only serving to accentuate the curves of her body. Her legs weren't reaching the bottom of the pool either – they were raised with one of them breaking the surface in a manner reminiscing of water ballet. It was almost flirtatious. The same could be said about the small smile on Kanon's lips and the way she was looking at Keima. The image was completed with clothes Kanon chose to wear. Instead of normal swimming suit, the idol was wearing a sleeveless and pleated pink one piece that perfectly matched the color of her eyes and hair. The costume hugged her slim waist nicely and the deep V neckline indicated Kanon was not a girl anymore, but rather a young woman.

The sight and swimsuit didn't affect Keima much. He was focused on something else.

"You should pretend to be more nervous while in water," he said, "otherwise your manager's going to faint in shock."

It wasn't exactly an exaggeration – Kanon's entire disposition was filled to the brim with confidence. She was comfortably and casually leaning on the rope and smiling, which was totally different from where she started three swimming sessions earlier.

"And I have you to thank for that," the idol said, her feet outside of the water describing lazy circles in the air absent-mindedly, "you and Minami-chan."

Keima said nothing. He wasn't sure whether Kanon was aware of the flirty-ish tone of her voice, but the answer wouldn't change the fact that it was there.

Maybe it was Apollo instead of Kanon? Keima was pretty certain the goddess could hide her wings and halo if necessary.

"Thank you, Keima-kun," Kanon reiterated, her voice a little more serious, "thank you for putting up with me on this."

"You're welcome," Keima said, looking away, hoping the flag will disappear if he won't look its way. Kanon exploited his lack of vision by splashing him with water, making him squeal as if he wasn't standing chest-deep in water right now.

"What are you-" he started as he turned around, but stopped when he noticed how close Kanon was.

"How am I going to thank you?" the idol wondered aloud.

"You don't have to thank me," Keima replied, but Kanon seemed to not have heard it. She had this weird look in her eyes. It was both focused on him and foggy at the same time. Water movement told Keima she got even closer, her hands reached forward, as if trying to reach him. Her fingers were were moments from touching his naked chest.

"Huh? You're still in the water?" it was Minami who asked that. Fortunately, from where she was behind Keima she couldn't see what Kanon was doing, but the idol still reacted by widening her eyes and trying to jump back, which didn't work too well in the water, making her almost go under for a moment.

Not a minute later she was already out of the pool and rushing in the direction of the changing room, one thought making rounds in her head.

 _Oh crap, oh crap, oh crap..._

(* * *)

Kanon spent the rest of the day worrying. After all she had done something she wasn't supposed to do. Yes, diving with Keima had helped her to do it properly. Yes, her getting more confident was good. Yes, Kanon wanted to get closer to Keima and yes, she had decided to flirt a bit.

But it had gotten out of control! She had looked as if she had been seducing him! She had been seconds from embracing him romantically, which was even worse as Keima had firmly said that physical contact was forbidden!

Of course, Apollo saw it as a great progress. Thus two days later, when Kanon was having her last one-on-one swimming lesson with Keima, Apollo was spurring her on, the face of the goddess of arts appearing on the water surface every once in a while. However, Kanon was determined to not let anything like that happen this time. She made sure not to touch Keima and to listen to all his instructions. She also made sure to keep the eye contact to minimum, while also trying to stay calm, even though she was more nervous than while on stage.

The lesson ended without any major incident (much to Apollo's chagrin) and Kanon didn't know whether she should be happy that she avoided anything bad or should she be sad that the distance between her and Keima had increased again.

Well, at least her swimming skills had improved greatly. Truth be told, when Kanon realized how used she had gotten to being in the water with just a few lessons, she was more than surprised.

And, as she would soon find out, she wasn't the only one.

(* * *)

"What's this?" the idol asked, raising her head from the sheet of paper her manager had handed her.

The idol had just got down from the stage where she had been performing a song called "Help-ru ME ME!" in a collaboration with another singer.

"Those are results of popularity rankings for TV series last month," Okada replied, "it says so at the top of the page."

Kanon furrowed her brows. That part was right. But still...

"Ne..." Kanon spoke again, "Ara no Kinoumade has aired during the second half of April, right?"

Maybe she remembered wrong?

"That's right," Okada said, "20th of April to be exact."

Kanon's brow furrowed further.

"Then how come is it the most popular TV series here?"

Okada rolled her eyes.

"Right, because TV series you play in always have low popularity," the manager said sarcastically.

Either some of Keima personality traits had rubbed on the older woman during their short meeting or Kanon had just never noticed that side of her manager before.

"But this is too sudden!" Kanon said. "Only 2 episodes have aired! This makes no sense!"

Okada sighed.

"You really don't get it?" she asked.

"Don't get what?" Kanon asked back.

"Two months ago you were very anxious about this show and insisted on using doubles," the manager said, "you knew this. Your staff knew this. Pretty much your entire fanbase knew this. And then bam!" Okada made an exploding gesture, "you suddenly get comfortable with water to the point you can play all your scenes yourself and actually look like you're honestly enjoyed yourself."

"You mean that-"

"Your popularity is growing so quickly not only because you get new fans," Okada said, "it's also because you _don't_ lose old fans. Even if your fans grow older they do not stop being your fans. They are attached to you. They know you. They know, and seen, about your struggle with water. And now they see this," the manager indicated to the TV series. "You know what this means?" Kanon shook her head to that. "It means you've shown them determination and growth. You have shown them how to overcome your weaknesses and issues. Like a true role model. Of course your popularity would skyrocket. Honestly, I only thought this happens every time you remove a part of yourself, but," Okada smiled, "maybe this time around we should add something instead. How about a certain brown-haired boy?"

"Please don't joke about that," Kanon said.

"Why?" Okada asked. "Are there any problems with Katsuragi-san?"

"Not per se," Kanon said, "but there'd be problems if I were to bring him into this," she gestured to her surroundings, meant to indicate her general idol life.

"Perhaps you're right," Okada said, "anyway, we should end this conversation for now. Your mother will have my head if I take more study time away from you."

Kanon couldn't agree more.

It was the beginning of May, meaning the third year of high school was upon them for some time now. And it was hard. Kanon still didn't attend school on regular basis, but she now spend much more time studying.

Of course, studying would be a great opportunity to spend some quality time with Keima-kun, but unfortunately it wasn't so simple. She did manage to get Keima's help, but it was mostly notes. And they were delivered by Eri, who attended pretty much every public event Kanon had in Maijima and had a pass that allowed her backstage. Keima didn't attend such events and Kanon wasn't exactly surprised, considering the sheer number of her fans. If Keima was ever to watch her concerts, he'd do it from his house.

So, studying and strengthening relations with Keima weren't going stellar. Work was better though. As Okada mentioned, Kanon had played her part in Ara no Kinoumade herself, impressing the filming crew with her swimming and diving skills. Right now she also had no problems with having swimming lessons with other people.

Still, she'd have preferred to swim with Keima-kun.

Of course, it wasn't as if she didn't speak with him. Far from it. But it was mostly though e-mails and a lot of it was about studying. Kanon did tend to ask Keima for help or advice sometimes, but she took care not too rely on him too much. Yes, Kanon needed to keep in touch and Keima could help her with a lot of stuff, but she didn't want to become a bother for him.

While most of the communication happened through e-mails, Kanon and Keima did meet in person four times since the swimming lessons (the most recent time being Ayumi's birthday). Of course, when outdoors Kanon was using the illusion to keep her identity hidden. And, of course, Okada was informed about those meetings.

And it wasn't as if Kanon was avoiding any romantic undertones. Yes, she was very careful after the swimming pool incident and, yes, she wasn't being pushy or using physical contact. But she still did try to get closer to Keima-kun, as much as their weirdly-defined relationship allowed. Smile here, compliment there. She was just trying to show Keima what kinda girl she was and prove to him that real-life romance was worth it.

Of course, she didn't say that in the open, but hoped that Keima could read between the lines. She also didn't hide the fact she enjoyed their meeting and looked forward to them. As subtle as it was, she made sure that even a real-world romance knucklehead as Keima-kun knew she had her eyes on him, both figuratively and literally.

All-in-all it would be a stable and positive situation if it weren't for two things.

First, as unsurprising as it was, Yui was on a permanent offensive, pretty much the only thing Keima was ever complaining about.

Second, despite the situation with Keima being stable-ish on his side, it wasn't exactly like that on Kanon's side.

More specifically, daily life was getting harder and harder. Maybe it was because of this new show. Maybe it was because she needed to study more, leaving her with even less time to herself. But deep down Kanon knew it was because her heart was denied what it wanted and when what it desired was so close.

So close and yet so far away...

Going back from those depressing thoughts, Kanon began to study. After that was over and done with (for now) she was back to her "usual" idol schedule and busied herself with work. The day was slowly passing, but during the less intense moments Kanon's mind begun to wander again and Okada noticed that.

"Are you listening Kanon?" the manager's voice brought the idol out of her musings.

"Yes!"

Okada smiled. "Thinking about Keima-kun again?"

"Maybe," Kanon admitted, knowing better than to pretend otherwise.

To her surprise Okada sighed.

"I'm very sorry to interrupt your happy thoughts, but you have a less... pleasant task to attend next," the manager said with an apologetic expression, standing in front of one of the doors. Kanon suddenly had a bad feeling about this.

Please, she thought as she opened the door, let it be just a ten thousand fans waiting in line to get an autograph.

It turned out her guess was somewhat off. There was only one fan. And he certainly wanted more than her autograph.

"Hello, Kanon-chan," Daisuke Nishihara said with his usual beaming smile.

Oh crap...

"What are you doing here?" Kanon asked as soon as she regained her composure.

"Waiting for you, of course," the blond boy replied, not looking thrown off balance at all. Not that Kanon was surprised. The boy's stubbornness and apparent denseness was something that Kanon was well-acquainted with.

And the reason for that was because Nishihara was appearing in Kanon's life a lot lately. He was never really blunt when it came to his words. However, small (but expensive) gifts and flowers did speak about his intentions clearly enough.

It's not as if Kanon despised him or thought he was trying to use her. He might even like her – as far as a narcissist can like someone besides themselves – but this didn't change the fact that his attempts at wooing here were beginning to seriously annoy her. And to make matters worse, Kanon couldn't openly reject him. It was unanimously decided that in the absence of other candidates (and Kanon couldn't reveal the existence of Keima to her other co-workers and business partners) it was best for Kanon to either not reject Nishihara to keep her options open or, Kanon shivered, accept him as her boyfriend.

"I've heard that your latest show is a huge success," Nishihara said and Kanon almost felt sorry for him, as this sounded like an honest compliment. This goes any longer and he might actually fall in love with her.

"Really?" Kanon asked. "Then you must be better informed than me."

"I doubt it," Nishihara said as he got closer, "I'm sure you keep tabs on how your career develops very closely."

"Hardly. My schedule is far too busy to worry about that, so I leave such stuff to manager-san," Kanon replied, "besides, I'm more concerned with bringing happiness to my fans. I've told you that before."

"Yes, you have. And such dedication is very admirable of you, but," Nishihara said, before he pulled the hand he was holding behind himself forward, revealing a bouquet of roses, "perhaps you should think more of yourself or else you will collapse with exhaustion."

"Not red ones this time?" Kanon eyed the bouquet.

"Pink works better with your eyes," Nishihara explained with a smile.

Kanon bit her lip. His "take care of yourself" words weren't exactly wrong. And his act wasn't half bad either.

If only he were Keima...

"Thank you," Kanon said, accepting the flowers, but made sure to make her tone ice cold. It wouldn't do any major damage anyway – he'd just think she was playing hard to get and he needed to buy her more stuff. The fact that she didn't accept any of his non-flowers or more expensive gifts didn't seem to deter him in the least. The boy opened his mouth to speak again, but Kanon beat him to it.

"As I've told you, my schedule is tight, so I must leave you now, Nishihara-san."

The boy sighed. "You work too much," he said, "but I've already spoke with your manager to schedule some time for us. It's a date," he added.

"Assuming there'll be such a time," Kanon said evasively, fully aware that it was his most bold and direct courting attempt yet.

(* * *)

"I'm sorry," Okada said a minute later, "but he's really persistent and it would be suspicious if I kept making excuses and not letting him see you."

"It's alright," Kanon said, "he seems to be even more persistent today for some reason."

"And I think I know that reason," Okada said and, when Kanon looked at her, she continued, "well, he's the only guy your fans see around you. And your fans aren't blind. They see what he's trying to do. You're also seventeen by now."

"You mean my fans are getting used to the idea of me having a boyfriend?" Kanon asked.

"I wouldn't say so," Okada shook her head, "it'll take much more for your fans to get used to that idea, especially considering you recent popularity growth. You know how new fans are..."

"I know," Kanon said, "and that growth wasn't all that much,"

"I beg to disagree," Okada fixed her glasses Keima-style, "this is actually something I wanted to talk to you about," the older woman said as she led Kanon into conference room.

(* * *)

Ayumi, Eri and Miyako were chatting happily, while Chihiro sat between them with a girl's magazine in her hands. It looked like a happy setting, but in reality the four girls were just using the period before the morning homeroom to relax and socialize to prepare themselves for a long day of schoolwork. Being a third year high school student was hard. Keima was sitting in his usual spot, PFP in his hands and earpieces in his ears to separate himself from the surrounding noise. All-in-all it promised to be a normal day at Mai-High.

And it was then when the noise from inside the classroom was drowned out by the noise from the outside of it.

"What is going out there?" Miyako was the first to react, followed by the curious stares from her friends. Even Chihiro looked up curiously from her magazine.

Keima of course didn't react to it. He didn't react when the noise increase. He ignored the collective clamor that soon followed. But even he couldn't ignore when Eri grabbed his arm and started to shake it.

"Nii-sama, nii-sama!"

"For Kami's sake!" the boy exclaimed, taking off his earpieces. "What is it!?"

Eri didn't say anything, but her eyes, like the eyes of all their classmates were fixed on the doorway. Keima looked that way at the perfect moment to see Kanon Nakagawa walk in the classroom, their eyes meeting.

Any chances of the two of them exchanging greetings were forgotten when a chorus of "Kanon-chan!" was heard, Eri's voice the loudest of them all. The following pre-class period was filled with Kanon's classmates bombarding her with questions, relating to everything ranging from her songs and the recent airing of "Ara no Kinoumade" to... questions about Diasuke Nishihara.

Kanon was really hoping Keima-kun wasn't listening too closely.

As for the boy himself, he didn't seem to pay attention to the ruckus. Ayumi and Chihiro didn't approach Kanon either – they were somewhat closer to the idol than the rest of the class and they would rather talk with her in a calmer atmosphere.

Soon after that Kodama-sensei entered the classroom, quickly dispersing the crowd, stating that famous idol or not, it was time for (his version of) English. Ayumi, Chihiro, Eri and other members of anti-Kodama front just sighed, while Keima continued to play his games. At least till his PFP beeped (good thing he was using earpieces), indicating that he had received an e-mail. He went to check it, predicting what his mailbox would contain. And he was right. Kinda.

 _From: Kanon Nakagawa._

 _Topic: Lunch break._

 _Keima-kun, please be at the rooftop during lunch break or otherwise you're going to miss your reward!_

 _Love, Kanon._

Keima looked at the mail and then risked a glance at Kanon, but she was not looking at him. Well, it wasn't as if it was unexpected. It was actually pretty expected.

Just when did punishments got replaced with rewards?

(* * *)

Keima barely entered the rooftop park when he heard his name being called.

"Keima-kun!"

He turned and was not surprised to see Kanon waving at him. Nor he was surprised to see her using her 'Apollo's illusion made me look like a normal boring brown-haired girl' disguise that was apparently going to become a permanent thing. If there was anything that surprised Keima then it was the fact that Kanon managed to leave class, lose people following her, use the illusion and arrive at the rooftop before him.

Then again, it was Kanon and Apollo – the only more surprising duo he knew were Yui and Mars.

Keima walked to where Kanon was sitting on a bench. She indicated for him to sit down.

"Good day, Keima-kun," Kanon said with a smile.

"Good day," Keima responded. Only now he saw she had an earpiece. Kanon noticed his gaze. "Oh, just listening to something to pass the time."

'How long did you think it was going to take me to get here?' Keima thought. Out loud he asked. "Is it one of yours?"

"Well, kinda," Kanon said with a smile, "it's, 'Please take care of my love!', a song me, Lime and Yuri did back during Citron times!"

"I see," Keima said as he looked at the cheerful expression on her face, "you look pretty happy today," he noticed.

It was true. Kanon seemed to be in good mood and it showed on her features. Actually, Keima was pretty sure that her facial expression and mannerism would make her recognizable, at least for someone who knew her circumstances and was standing close to her, like him right now.

"Uh-huh!" Kanon said. "It's because I've got to got to school and spend time with you, Keima-kun! And I also have songs with me!"

Right, him, lessons and songs – three of the things Kanon liked. They were missing only poems now.

"You said something about a reward," Keima reminded her.

"Aah," Kanon suddenly looked sheepish, "well, calling it a reward might've been a bit too much... it's more like compensation."

"Compensation?" Keima repeated as Kanon rummaged through her bag.

"Here," she said, presenting Keima with... a pink PFP.

"For the one I fried before," Kanon said, red dusting her cheeks.

"You're joking," Keima said.

"Why?" Kanon asked, clearly disappointed. "Should I have picked a different color?"

"Not that," Keima said, "I don't need another PFP! Dokurō gave me back every one she confiscated, remember?"

"Oh, right..." Kanon deflated, before getting another idea, "how about I buy you a game or two instead?"

Keima had to admit – it was tempting, but...

"But you bought a PFP already," he noticed.

"It's fine," Kanon waved her hand, "I'm not exactly poor you know? Still, it'd be nice if you had a PFP from me," then she got another idea, "maybe I should sign you one?"

"You have already," Keima said.

"Ehh?" Kanon was surprised. "The one when we first met? B-but that's the one I fried!"

"Not that one," Keima told her, "the one you signed for Eri in November."

Kanon was silent for a moment.

"But isn't it Eri's PFP?" the idol asked.

"Eri has enough of your autographs and the PFP is mine," Keima said.

"And you didn't throw it away?" Kanon asked again.

Keima sighed and then showed her the back of the PFP he had in his hands. Kanon gasped when she saw her own name there.

"Y-you really kept it," Kanon said, her eyes swelling with emotion and Keima was pretty sure that their relationship not being fully romantic was the only thing stopping her from jumping on him and only barely. And she still got much closer, her eyes fixed on him, as if he was the idol and she was some love-struck boy.

Her gaze was also weird. Barring her original conquest, Kanon was one of the girls who didn't injure him or weren't all that pushy. At the same time she had a certain type of innocence and gentleness that only a few of his conquest, like Minami or Tenri, exhibited. Of course, Keima noticed that before, but now that become even more relevant and brought them to an important topic.

Kanon liked him.

"I like you, Keima-kun," Kanon said as if reading his mind.

Keima tried to stop his blush from forming, but he didn't fully succeed.

"You know I cannot reciprocate," he said, "not now at least."

"I know," Kanon said, her voice and expression saddening suddenly. It was expected, but Keima had a feeling there was more to it.

"Is something wrong?" he asked.

Kanon sighed.

"I talked with Okada-san recently," she started.

"Let me guess, another meeting?"

"No, not like that..." she paused for a moment, "there's a possible proposition, a contract for me to sign."

"What does it have to do with this?" Keima asked. "Do you have to do something you don't want to do? Like go overseas for some time?"

"Not exactly," Kanon said, "the thing is, my popularity has been growing a lot."

"It's not exactly something new," Keima noticed.

"Yes, but my popularity reached a certain level... It's not 100% certain as some of this is a wild guess, but Okada-san and my advisors are fairly certain that the people I have contracts with think that I'm ready."

"Ready for what?" Keima asked, though he could guess what she meant.

"For the next step," the idol said, "it's been some time since there was a solo idol with such popularity. So, they'll probably want to make a new, different contract."

"What would change then?" Keima asked.

"We'd get better financing and marketing. I guess that means I wouldn't need to work so much with gravures and odd jobs like that. That I could focus more on singing. Also, with such contracts I'd be able to reach more people with my songs. Maybe make some Chinese or English songs. Do some concerts outside of Japan."

"It's good then, right?" Keima asked. "This is what you wanted. To reach the hearts of people."

Kanon shook her head. "Yes, but I won't succeed until I reach one heart in particular," she said, her hand raising, as if absent-mindedly reaching for Keima's heart.

"I'm not sure I get it," Keima said.

Kanon sighed again.

"I like you, Keima-kun..."

"I know that!"

"...I want you to like me back. And I want to be an idol. I don't want to abandon one for the other," she said, "but this contract thing... if it does happen and I accept it, then it means I'll be spending even less time in Maijima. I will also have even more responsibility and I'll have to be more careful about my image. Things like spending time with you will be impossible to hide all the time and if people discover it, it could become a scandal."

"It's funny how you worry about that only now," Keima said, "but I guess that means you have grown out of that girl that was starved for attention."

Kanon nodded, not sure if there was more compliment or scolding in his words just now.

"So," she took up after a moment, "my point is, that I'm not sure what I shou-"

"Sign the new contract," Keima told her.

"W-what?" she asked. "B-but-"

"Listen to me," he interrupted her again, "I know you. And unlike those business people, I have your best interest and well-being in mind. And I promised you I'll give it... us a try."

"If you promised, then why are you-"

"Exactly because I promised you," he told her, "look, Kanon. You're only seventeen. We're still in high school. There's no rush. If we both ever were to come to a conclusion it was time for more then we always can do it. I promised you, so I'll still be here... the business people on the other hand," he resumed after pausing, "they count their profits. If you can't provide it to them, they'll turn to something else... what I'm saying is: I'll still be here, but the contract is quite possibly a one-time thing. One-time chance to realize your dream. Are you certain you can let that chance slip by?"

Kanon bit her lip.

What Keima was saying was to be patient. A part of Kanon feared Keima was doing that in hopes of her meeting someone else and losing interest. That was probably at least half-truth. On the other hand, if she didn't meet anyone like that Keima-kun would keep his word, so there was a lot of truth to what he was saying as well. Actually, the only reason Kanon didn't want to do that was because she was tired of waiting and her heart yearned for Keima-kun.

"That's your advice," she said, "but what are your actual feelings?"

"If you're asking if I feel the same for you as I feel for my game heroines, then I don't," Keima replied.

"No, I know that. Games and reality are different," Kanon said, "I mean what you think of me? Of us?"

Keima shrugged. "I don't know. Considering you're not frying my consoles and we don't have all that much time to meet, it's not bad. And... well, you're one of my friends... you're one of-"

"One of your girls," Kanon finished for him, "and you're fond of me."

That much she didn't have to ask him. She knew that. And that knowledge warmed her heart.

"I suppose so," Keima admitted, "but I also think it's not what you were expecting to happen."

"It's ok," Kanon said, "as you said, we have time," she stood up and pointed her finger at him, a determined look on her face, "No matter how long it's gonna take, I will snipe at your heart! And I won't ever let you go!"

Keima blinked.

"Referencing your own songs now, aren't you?" he said.

"You noticed?" Kanon was pleasantly surprised.

"You kinda forget I have incredible memorizing skills and my sister sings your songs aloud half the time," Keima reminded her.

"Be careful," Kanon wiggled her finger in front of him, "anymore and I'll start thinking you're my fan."

"Well, maybe not to the extent you think, but I am your fan," Keima told her, further surprising Kanon, "which is why I'll support your decision."

"You mean-"

"Whether you choose to sign this new contract or not, it's up to you," Keima said, "though my advice is still to sign it and I can't guarantee anything if you choose not to. Oh, and one more thing."

"Yes?" Kanon asked, uncertain.

"I think there's been enough secrecy concerning your love life," Keima said as he stood up. "You cannot have a boyfriend no-one knows about. As long as there's distance between us," he gestured to the both of them, indicating to their vague, but not official and not fully romantic relationship," it's fine to keep it a secret. But I'll be blunt – if you ever want to cross that line," he swept his leg over the ground between them, drawing an imaginative line, "I won't agree to it unless you decide to make it public."

Kanon bit her lip again.

"What about my fans?" she asked. "Like wouldn't you be afraid of them... pestering you?"

"You mean them trying to lynch me?" he clarified.

"I'm sure it wouldn't be that bad," Kanon said quietly, but not all that convincing.

"Going out in secret and then being found out would be even worse, but yeah, if this thing with us being together is to ever fly, you'd have to make it in such a way that your fans don't go ballistic on me."

Kanon furrowed her brows. So she couldn't make Keima fall in love with her if she will not spend time with him and he won't go out with her for real unless she can keep her fans in check. In such circumstances going out with Keima-kun right now would be... difficult.

"No-one said it would be easy," Keima said, once again as if reading her mind, "you should know that."

Kanon paused to think about it. Keima-kun was right. As things were, signing the contact and waiting for a few years to make the two of them possible sounded more plausible... It might be the best course of action... assuming her heart would survive this.

While Kanon was thinking it over, Keima observed the girl, lost in his own thoughts. Curiously, his thoughts concerned the pink-haired girl in front of him. The basic principle of romance in dating sims was encounters and events. The more they were the quickest the romance proceeded. Thus it was surprising for him that such a small number of events led them this far. Don't get him wrong – Keima Katsuragi didn't get in to the real. Not fully. What he felt towards Kanon certainly wasn't mad love. But whatever it was, it was there. It was a bit similar to the bond he shared with all of his previous conquest girls, but certainly stronger. And nothing, not Kanon efforts, not her looks, not her voice, not even his guilt over what had happened to her in the past could explain this.

Truth be told, Keima Katsuragi didn't believe in real-life romance. Or rather he considered it inferior to the romance shown in games. But he suddenly realized that he wouldn't mind trying it. Wouldn't mind having Kanon try and romance him. Wouldn't mind seeing where it could take them. Of course, it wasn't perfectly fair to the other girls, but most of them acted towards him more like friends now (friends that tried to take away his gaming time, but friends nonetheless) rather that lover candidates.

He sighed inaudibly. It was ironic that the biggest obstacle to them becoming a couple wasn't him, but Kanon's career. Had she been any other girl and asked him out, he would have agreed at this point.

"You're right," Kanon said slowly, bringing him out of his thoughts.

"So, have you decided?" he asked.

Kanon shook her head. "No, not yet. I need more time to think this over."

"And that's the best decision you could make for now," Keima praised, smiling at her and making her heart skip a beat. "If you understand this, then I suggest we end this conversation before-"

"There you are!" Keima was interrupted by a familiar voice. Him and Kanon turned around only to see Eri, Chihiro and Ayumi entering the rooftop. They got closer to Keima and blinked, eying the girl he was with.

"Huh? Otamega with a girl?" Chihiro exclaimed in genuine surprise.

"Who are you?" Ayumi asked with a hint of suspicion.

"What's going on nii-sama?" Eri asked.

Keima face-palmed. "Can't you recognize her?"

"?"

"It's me, Kanon," the idol said.

The three girls blinked and looked closer, before letting out a perfectly synchronized "EEEHH!?"

 **(* * *)**

 **Here you have it.**

 **As I said the cutting place is not very good, but ending the chapter in the middle of the rooftop talk would be even worse.**

 **So, it's not the most fast-paced chapter, but things are progressing. Kanon gets more comfortable with water (in no small amount thanks to joint diving exercise :P)... so comfortable in fact she gets carried away a bit and gets pretty closer to Keima than she is supposed to.  
**

 **Anyway, Kanon plays in her new TV series and uses her freshly-earned swimming skills so well that** ** **her popularity spikes again,** impressing her staff, fans and... Daisuke Nishihara, who even managed to book a date for a... date.**

 **It'll probably be a shocking date. Anyone wanna bet on the voltage? :P**

 **And as intolerable as Nishihara is, I tried to make him less hopeless in here and and in my opinion he at least tries.**

 **Anyway, Kanon gets to school, sends Keima a less-threatening-then-usual email and reveals her most recent plight – whether to sign the new and improved contract and leave romance for later or abandon this very possibly one-time chance to reach more fans and remain at her current level.**

 **And no matter what Kanon chooses, Keima is still making conditions. Not that I blame him – if they date in secret and someone finds out, Keima can really be lynched by Kanon's fans... curiously at the same time Keima is seemingly progressing himself with regards to Kanon.  
**

 **So close, yet so far away...**

 **Trivia time! The title of the chapter is a pretty obvious reference to the song by the Beattles.**

 **Ooh and if you're wondering when Kanon had signed Keima's PFP it was in Flag 6, sixth chapter of The World Not Only God Knows. I've written 66 chapters since then... time flies. I also never thought I'd use that tidbit of information here. :P  
**

 **As usual, I would like to kindly ask you for your support, including favorites, follows and, most importantly reviews – they're the most effective method of showing me what you think of the story and that you enjoy it. Please show me how many of you are there!**

 **Meanwhile, stay tuned for the next chapter which should be posted in a few days.**

 **See you later!**


	10. Flag 73: Abducted decisions

**Hello, everyone, I'm back with another chapter!**

 **It took me a little longer than planned, but I wanted to give you some space between the posting of both chapters.**

 **Like I said before, this chapter is fairly long as well – around 6500 words without author's notes. Also, I think it might be more interesting than the last one. And I hope you'll like it. :)  
**

 **As always, I want to thank you for all your support. Here are the replies to the latest reviews:**

 **Red Glasses:** You're welcome. I'm always surprised how quickly you review my chapters. Also thank you for your kind words. I'm glad my "dialogue mixed with a lot of monologue-like thoughts and description of the thinking process" style works for you. I hope you'll like this chapter as well.

 **Big Bad Beowolf:** I'm very happy you're thinking my stories are amazing :). Nice to know you remembered about Flag 6. As for the question about the Light Novel girls... the truth is that I like them very much and would love to have them in this setting (though Shino would be even less present than Hinoki). The only reason the Light Novel girls are not here is because I didn't know about Light Novels back when starting this... And I won't lie – the lack of the LN girls is one of my greatest regrets about the Nomi series... Maybe, maybe some day I'll rewrite older chapters to have LN girls there.

 **Guest:** Thanks, but this chapter is also some 6500 words without the author's notes, so if I put it as one it'd be around 14 thousand words... too much... even for my "standards".

 **MasterZen:** Thank you. Let's see what you'll think about this chapter though. :P

 **Ghost Man:** Nishihara is not all that bad, right? He's really arrogant though. Who can blame him when he's a famous young handsome actor? :P Too bad he doesn't know he's arrived on the starting line way too late into the race... or has he? :P I'm glad you like the way I wrote Nishihara. But yeah, he's still in the picture, so grab onto that popcorn. :)

 **Rt16:** Congratulations on making an account :). The idea of Vulcan fooling everyone for Tsukiyo's sake does sounds a bit like her, though it's also unfair. As for the orb releasing the feelings... it does sound interesting as Keima being genuinely interested in going after a girl from the get go is certainly something we don't see often... on the other hand him going for the "already has won" girls would be _very_ troublesome. I might use the idea for girls for who Keima would be unlikely to go after. We'll see.

 **ZelgadisGW:** Hello :). Glad you liked the first scene. And of course Kanon's show popularity has nothing to do with her water proficiency :P. Yup, Nishihara doesn't know, which makes him even more annoying for Kanon :P. Yeah, the ending of the last chapter was crappy, but it couldn't be helped. Anyway, thanks for the review.

 **Okay, let's not postpone any longer. Onto the chapter!**

 **Enjoy!**

 **(* * *)**

After Kanon explained to Ayumi and Chihiro that she was using Apollo's illusion, the two girls dropped the topic, but they continued to glance between Kanon and Keima suspiciously. Fortunately, Eri served as a good distraction that helped the issue blow over and soon the three girls were sitting on the bench and talking animatedly, while Keima was back to playing his games and participated in the conversation only when Ayumi tossed him a glance. Apparently the runner was working to reform the gamer. All-in-all it was very nice and Kanon made a mental note to visit other girls next time she'll be at school.

Soon after that the bell rang, so they had to return to the classroom (Kanon returned separately) and classes followed. Ayumi and Chihiro looked between bored and stressed and Keima just played his games. Kanon, on the other hand, enjoyed the school. Attention, lessons and being close to Keima-kun. This was pretty good a place for her to be.

However, the school day eventually ended and Kanon was back to her idol job, seriously hoping it wouldn't be long before she'd be able to attend school again.

Three days have passed during which Kanon tried not to think about the contract. It wasn't even decided yet whether the contract will happen or not, so Kanon figured there was no point thinking about something that might not be a thing at all. Thus, Kanon tried to to go through her days normally, all while keeping contact with Keima-kun. However, she wasn't sure if she should stay strictly friendly or amp up her flirting a bit. Still, as uncertain and unstable as the situation with the contract and Keima-kun was, all-in-all those were pretty good days for Kanon.

And then it happened. The contract became a reality and Kanon had was left with a few days to decide whether she wanted to go to the next stage or stay with her current contract. The idol listened to everyone's opinion and weighted all pros and cons, but still wanted to use all the time and wait till the last day. Finally, she couldn't postpone any longer and made her decision. It wasn't an easy choice, but Kanon made it and felt somewhat relieved. At least she got one thing off her shoulders. However, as soon as she thought that Okada-san had reminded her of something else that made Kanon groan.

Today was the day she was supposed to go on a 'date' with Daisuke Nishihara.

What am I going to do with that guy? Kanon thought as she walked to the meeting point alone. She was using earpieces, listening to "Koi no Shirushi", one of the songs she made a covers for, on her phone, the music helping her relax after her work. Work... maybe that was the answer? Maybe she should start working even more, so she'd have a legitimate excuse to avoid spending any time with Nishihara? Then again, if she did that then when she'd sleep?

Oh, right, since I have a free moment I should e-mail Keima-kun and tell him about my choice, Kanon thought, as she fiddled with her phone. With the music playing and her attention on the phone Kanon didn't notice an approaching vehicle, until the loud sound of tires screeching on the asphalt reached her. Kanon jumped back on instinct, but the grey van didn't crash into her. Instead, it came to a halt two meters in front of her, blocking her passage. Before Kanon could come to her senses, the vehicle side door slid open and two hooded figures jumped out.

"W-what," was all Kanon managed to say as both figures grabbed her arms and started to drag her towards the vehicle.

"Get your hands off me!" Kanon shouted and jerked one of her hands from the grasp. The assailant wasn't ready for that and stumbled backwards, falling to the pavement. The other one went to hold her, but Kanon was already a step ahead. With a quick and practiced motion she pocketed her phone and pulled out her stun gun, flipped off the low-voltage safety and plunged it to the hooded figures body. Electrical current worked like a charm, but the victory was short-lived, when the other figure was back, knocking the stun gun from her hands. Kanon immediately tried to reach for her other stun gun, but the assailant suddenly sprayed some very strange pink gas from under their sleeve.

Before Kanon could understand what had happened, her consciousness faded away.

(* * *)

When Kanon came to, for several moments she couldn't figure out what has happened. And then it hit her.

She has been kidnapped! And in broad daylight no less!

Kanon tried to move around and realized she wasn't tied up in any way. It didn't make sense, unless... she got up and looked around and realized she was right. She was in some kind of small, empty and austere cell-like room. Walls, floor and ceiling was just gray concrete. There were also door and a window. Kanon approached it and looked through it.

Her first observation – there was no-one there, at least as far as she could see. The outside looked uninviting concrete as well, but it was bigger and, most important of all, there was a table on which Kanon recognized her belongings. She tried to break the glass with her fists, but it didn't yield. It barely even dented with each hit and bounced right back with nary a sound. The door looked solid as well. Apparently her kidnappers thought she couldn't escape and focused on something else. Perhaps making a ransom call?

Should she just wait in that case? B-but what if their aim was different. No! There were no guards in sight, so she should use this chance to escape. Of course, for normal humans it would be impossible, but Kanon wasn't exactly a normal person. And she wasn't alone. She approached the glass and spoke.

"Apollo!"

In her mind's eye she could already see the carefree goddess break the glass and get her out of here, maybe even getting back on her kidnappers.

Thus, she was very surprised when nothing happened.

"A-Apollo?" Kanon repeated, concerned.

The glass responded with silence.

What's going on, Kanon thought in panic. Why wasn't Apollo responding? It's not like the gas from before could-she stopped when she remembered the weird pink gas. She also realized that when she was walking on the street she was using Apollo's illusion as it was more comfortable in the heat than walking with a heavy coat.

She was using and illusion and yet she was still located and kidnapped! Even worse, she remembered something else, a third realization that made her blood turn cold.

Hoods. Those hooded figures... they reminded her of that light-haired devil woman that stabbed her and Apollo over six months ago.

Devils! She was kidnapped by devils!

Kanon felt fear seize her heart. No, no no! How could such a thing happen again!? What was she supposed to do now? What did those devils want to do with her? What if Kanon wasn't the only one? What if others have been kidnapped? Ayumi-san. Chihiro-san. Tenri-san. Yui-san. Eri-chan. Keima-kun.

The last thought forced her to take a grip on herself. No! She had to do something! There has be something she could do, she thought as she started to pace around in her small cell. But she couldn't think of anything! In her helplessness she put her hands in her pockets and froze.

Slowly, she pulled them out. Her one hand was empty, but the other wasn't. She looked down on her hand, gazing at her recent birthday present from the Kasuga sisters.

Black, small and easily concealable, but powerful stun gun.

How come they didn't take this away, Kanon though. Then again, they had taken away her other stun gun. Maybe they didn't think she would have a second one. And it was pretty small and well-hidden. One way or another, Kanon wasn't defenseless now. Moreover...

She glanced towards the door and approached them and noticed a small box built in the wall. Could it be... she started to punch and kick at the box. Then she remembered her stun gun doubled as a pocketknife. Using it she managed to open the box. Just as she expected, inside it was a lot of wires and electronics.

Kanon smiled.

People may say she has talent for singing, but the skill that could be considered her "signature move" would be a MacGyver-like knack for fixing stuff with her stun guns. Well, fixing stuff... or breaking it.

Kanon put her stun gun to the door mechanism and turned on the voltage. The lock clicked and Kanon swung the door open. She walked out of the room and looked around. No-one. She hid her stun gun, before walking up the table and grabbing her phone. Fortunately, it was working. Kanon paid no mind to messages from Okada-san and Nishihara. She also briefly glanced at the time and saw it was before 3 o'clock in the afternoon. She quickly opened a new mail form and stopped at the addressee. If her enemies were devils then police might be useless. In that case...

She typed a message in record time and was just wondering what to do afterwards, when out of a sudden she felt a strong hit at the back of her head and saw no more.

(* * *)

The next time she woke up was the same as when she was knocked down – with pain.

"Wake up, bitch!" a voice commanded, before a hand slapped her. Kanon instinctively wanted to defend herself, but she couldn't. She was tied down with a rope, likely of magical origin. The place she was in was still mostly empty, but Kanon couldn't tell if it was the same building or a completely different place altogether. It was also big, the ceiling was easily several meters above them. The idol looked at the person who slapped her and, just as expected, it was a hooded cloak-wearing figure. Three more similarly-clad figures were nearby. They also had some kind of masks covering their faces, but different to the ones Vintage used. Was it some different Hell fraction?

"W-who are you people?" Kanon asked, knowing she had to stall.

The figure didn't reply.

"Why are you doing this?" she continued, pretending to be more scared than she was. "Is it ransom you want?"

The last part was naive, as the devil kidnappers being after money was unlikely, but Kanon needed to keep talking. Her efforts were in vain, however, because the nearest figure made a gesture and a piece of cloth descended upon Kanon's mouth and attached itself as if with glue, reducing her speech to incomprehensible mumble.

The figure stood up and walked away, exchanging words with its companion. Kanon couldn't understand what they were saying, as they were using some foreign language, most likely Hellian. Their voices were a bit weird, as if distorted. Moreover, Kanon knew enough about voices to know they sounded male or gender-neutral at best, but not feminine. Weird, wasn't New Hell bereft of males? That wasn't what she should be thinking about now though.

How much time was she out cold? Did they find the message on her phone? The phone itself was gesture-protected and devils weren't experts of human technology... but still, if they saw her message... What if they changed locations when Kanon was sleeping? What if they got rid of her phone...or even worse – just destroyed it?

Kanon's thoughts were interrupted by another figure who crouched next to her. Kanon looked at the figure and suddenly her unease increased. The figure was masked as well, but Kanon knew the figure was looking at her. There was something disturbing about that unseen stare. It made a cold shiver travel down her spine. And then the figure spoke.

"You look calm all things considered," the figure's voice was also deep and distorted, but it did not hide the intrigued tone.

Kanon could only mumble back.

"Hmm," the figure thought for a moment, "perhaps you realize it's only fair."

Kanon gaped at the figure, obviously not understanding.

"It's really simple," the figure said, "you have talent. You have money. You have legions of fans. You have fame. You have looks. You have voice. You have intelligence. You have youth. You have loving family. You have friends. You have love. You have future. Basically, you have everything, Miss Perfect. But in this ugly world nothing that pretty lasts forever. You do know the saying 'what goes up must come down', right? Wasn't it obvious that something like this would happen sooner or later? That the angel would eventually fall to the ground below? Or were you too naive to think about that perhaps? Too optimistic to look down on what you're stepping on?"

The figure laughed, but that laugh was devoid of warmth.

"Well, you should've been more careful, Miss Perfect... But don't worry. There's no need to be sad. After all our little Miss Perfect have already done everything she could dream for. She's done more than many others were able to achieve in their entire lifetime. There's nothing for you to regret. After all, what else could you wish for?"

Kanon's widened eyes made the figure reconsider.

"Ooohh," the figure said, voice tinted with mirth and Kanon could swear the figure was smirking behind the mask. "So our little Miss Perfect _does_ have things she wishes she has done, but hasn't. Well, too late to do that now. Should've done it before, instead of taking everything for granted."

By this point Kanon was sweating bullets. She started to fidget, trying to free herself from the rope binding her. She tried to shout, but with no success.

"There's no point struggling now. Just give it a rest," the figure raised her arm, holding something. Was it a gun? "You can try all you want. No-one and nothing is going to sav-"

*CRASH*

The only door in the room exploded, sending dust and metal pieces everywhere. Before Kanon could react a gust of wind followed, knocking her to the ground. She coughed, lying on her side. She couldn't see any of the figures. She was just about to stand up when her eyes caught something. A gentle movement. Something white and reflecting light. She followed it with her eyes until she saw the lonely object softly land on the floor.

It was a white feather.

Before Kanon realized what that meant a new series of loud noises followed, accompanied by beams and flashes of light. Kanon didn't know how long did it last, but suddenly she heard her own name being called.

"Kanon!" the voice repeated and the idol felt herself being hoisted up and a moment later the cloth restraining her mouth and hands disappeared. Kanon looked up at the person and immediately exploited her ability to speak.

"Herminium-san!" she said smiling.

"It's Haqua," the violet-haired devil responded, her face looking worried.

Kanon was about to thank the devil, but then she heard her name being spoked again. It wasn't as loud as Haqua's, but somehow it reverberated inside Kanon's head much more. And the reason for this was because she recognized that voice.

"K-Keima-kun?" she whispered in disbelief, looking in the direction of where the explosion happened.

There he was in the doorway, his figure outlined and emphasized by the light shining from behind him, standing in front of the two bent and mangled metal plates that not a minute ago were solid doors. The expression on his face was calm, but somehow Kanon knew it wasn't really like that. Keima started to walk in her direction, but he barely managed to make one third of the distance when Kanon all-but tackled him to the ground.

"K-Kanon?" the boy asked uncertain.

"KEIMA-KUN!" the idol all but shouted, burying her head into his chest. "I was so scared!"

"Shush," Keima said embracing the girl and comforting her. "It's alright. You're safe now."

"T-they kidnapped me from the street," Kanon said, somehow fighting back tears, too ashamed to look Keima in the eye. "I... I let my guard down," it was all her fault, "I should be more careful. They kidnapped me and I could do nothing! And-"

"Wrong," Keima said, the usual sharpness and conviction in his voice made her look up at him. "You stayed calm and you managed to contact me," he showed her his PFP.

"When Katsuragi got your message," Haqua, who walked near them said, "he immediately rallied as much of us as possible."

"Us?" Kanon repeated, but she kinda knew what the other woman meant.

"Me, Nora, Vulcan and Diana," Haqua explained, "the other goddesses didn't arrive yet. And, unfortunately, Rimyuel is in New Hell right now, so she couldn't help us. Otherwise those bastards would already by caught... Yeah, they escaped," the devil added when she saw Kanon's questioning look, "Vintage was always good at escaping. But we might still get them."

But," Kanon started, "what if they'll come after me, again?"

"We'll be prepared."

Both Kanon and Haqua blinked and looked at Keima who had a very determined look on his face. Kanon had seen that look only a few times before. When Urara's grandfather was about to die. When Keima and Tsukiyo were falling. After Kanon was stabbed by Fiore.

It was the gaze of the very serious Keima Katsuragi.

"K-Keima-kun?"

"We'll get you protection," Keima said, his hands on Kanon tightening a bit, making her realize they were still hugging. Her face wasn't pale anymore.

"I'll make your manager personally drive you between venues from now on," Keima continued, "I'll get someone from New Hell to watch over you as well," he glanced at Haqua, who seemed flustered for a moment.

"Well, New Hell is in Katsuragi's debt... and Apollo is a goddess," the violet-haired devil said, "I think it's possible to assign some guards for you."

"It's not just 'possible'. I'll make it happen," Keima said as he looked back at the idol, "I'm not letting anyone hurt you ever again."

Kanon wondered how in the world could she hear him through the sound of her own heartbeat. Was this a dream? Did she conjure up this scenario when trying to study? Well, if this was a dream then the person waking her up better be very shock-resistant. Kidnappings weren't romantic and it might be ridiculous to think that, but part of Kanon suddenly felt glad this happened.

This scenario, Kanon blushed, further hiding her head in Keima's chest, her heart pounding while melting at the same time, it almost felt as if it was a date...

And then she realized she was supposed to really be on a date right now...

"AAAH!" she cried out, detaching herself from Keima.

"W-what?" the boy said, "what happened?"

"I'm late! Okada-san is going to kill me!"

(* * *)

"Are you alright, Kanon?" Okada asked two hours later when her and Kanon were inside a car. Unknown to the manager, Nora was atop of their vehicle. The white-haired devil wasn't thrilled to act as Kanon's invisible bodyguard, but the glare Keima had sent the devil's way was convincing enough.

"I'm fine," Kanon replied, though it was not exactly the truth.

After Kanon had been rescued she had spent some time being checked by Haqua for any injuries, bugs planted on her and the like. After that Vulcan and Diana had managed to remove whatever the kidnappers had done to Apollo. Kanon had been overjoyed to have her goddess back... until Apollo had proceeded to check on Kanon as well.

After that Kanon could finally leave, but not without Nora and Yui accompanying her. The drummer had left only when Kanon had gotten into the car with Okada. Kanon hadn't explaine to her manager what had happened. Everyone, Kanon included, had decided that it was better to leave it like that, at least for now. Keima had said he would make Okada increase Kanon's security. The idol didn't even want to think how Keima would convince Okada to amp up her security. And she wasn't looking forward to having increased security. She'd have even less privacy. Moreover, she didn't want to be a bother and needlessly make worry people.

However, Keima-kun had been relentless, the way he had stood up to Vulcan and Nora when they'd said he was overreacting had been everyone, even Vulcan, widen their eyes in surprise. Kanon had never seen Keima-kun act like that. One small part of her had wanted to say she could take care of herself, but a much bigger part of her had thought Keima-kun was right. And seeing him like that, caring for her and ensuring her safety, made her feel warm. Of course, many people cared over Kanon in one way or another, but this somehow felt different.

And like that Kanon had lost her incentive to object.

Of course, a hunting party had been sent after the kidnappers, but they had returned empty handed. This had greatly worried Haqua. Kanon hadn't been happy with it either... in fact part of her was still scared, but the more she thought about it, the less she thought it was a bad thing.

"Where were you?" Okada continued her questions. "I know you don't like Nishihara, but it would be seriously better to go on a walk with him and let the guy talk for an hour and-"

"Okada-san," Kanon interrupted softly, making her manager look at her curiously, "I know it's very sudden and wouldn't be easy to prepare... but I'd like to make a request."

(* * *)

"What's wrong, nii-sama?" the always shrill voice of his sister brought Keima Katsuragi out of his musings.

"What's wrong is you talking loud like that!" he replied, but his snark was much less then usual.

"Would it kill you to be more polite?" Mari asked from the other end of the dinner table before turning to Eri. "But he's right, you need to talk quieter, Eri-chan."

"Am I really that loud?" the former devil asked.

"At times," Mari said, "you should try working on that."

Keima's father glanced at his wife with a look that seemed to say "that's the pot calling the kettle black."

Keima wasn't listening to the conversation though, back to his own thoughts, which, of course, concerned today's happenings.

Kanon had been in danger again. That fact alone wasn't all that surprising. She was an idol. She had a goddess in her. She was associated with Keima. Her being targeted was perfectly logical. Of course mistakes were made. Both him and Kanon (and her entire staff) let their guard down. They should've increased the idol's security earlier, before all of this happened. Keima himself was being watched by devils and after today Haqua had informed him that his guard force will be increased as well. So, yes, mistakes had been made, but no more. Situation was stable.

Thus, the kidnapping event himself wasn't Keima's main concern anymore. Even Kanon's ability to take care of herself wasn't something that bothered him. The idol had proven her resourcefulness and the ability to think clearly under pressure. Keima knew that simply by analyzing the message Kanon had sent him.

 _kidnapped vintage track phone_

That's all. Four words. No unnecessary punctuation. Concise. Precise. And, knowing Kanon, typed before a normal person could blink their eye. It was simplicity and efficiency at its finest. That message proved Kanon was smart and calm enough to think clearly. She really deserved a praise. When Keima had received the message from Kanon he had acted immediately. That was a given as well. And everyone had helped. No surprise there.

No. As far as today's happenings were unexpected and dangerous, the event itself wasn't what was bothering Keima right now.

What was bothering him was he himself.

When Keima had read the message something had stirred in him. As to what had it been, the first and the obvious answer would be 'fear'. Yes, there had been fear. Keima had feared Kanon would be injured or worse. Of course, he had tried to remain calm and think logically and make the best possible choice to save Kanon. And of course, he'd be afraid if anyone were to be captured. Eri. Mari. Chihiro. Dokurō. Ayumi. Haqua. Shiori. Nanaka. Jun. Shiratori gramps. Yanagi. Yukie.

Hell, even disappearance of Nora and Ryō would be a reason for alarm.

Keima knew all that. Moreover, he didn't want to play favorites, but he knew that the amount of fear he felt would be different depending on who was in danger. This could be imagined like a scale where he could assign the amount of fear to everyone he knew.

The point was – where Keima had thought Kanon stood on that scale and where his fear actually had been didn't agree with each other. Of course, Kanon had been injured before which obviously had made his fear stronger. But he had taken that into account.

Yet, the variables in the formula still didn't add up. There was one more variable of substantial value that was required to balance the equation out. And Keima was beginning to realizing what that missing variable was.

And the short answer was: he cared for Kanon, her well-being and happiness more than he had previously thought. When he had seen her uninjured he had felt so relieved. When she had run into his arms he had felt... he couldn't name it. It was new to him... but part of him told him what the image looked like.

Like a protagonist rescuing a heroine.

The same part of him that told him that also said something else. To do more. It was similar to back when he had been trying to complete the buggy game "Crayon", the one with Sora Asuka, the painter. It was the feeling that told him to march on. Like there was need to do more. To try more. But what did that exactly mean? And why Kanon? Why not Chihiro or Tenri?

His thoughts were interrupted by the mention of the very girl he was thinking about. And it wasn't Eri who said the idol's name. In fact, the other Katsuragi sibling heard that too and turned to the source of the voice – the TV that was turned on.

By this time Mari was hustling in the kitchen part of the living room. Keiichi was the one watching TV, while Eri was sitting by the table, as if concerned by Keima not eating the rest of his dinner. However, now Eri walked to sit on the couch with her father.

At the same time Keima's PFP came to life, signaling that he received a new e-mail. He went to check it out and, sure enough it was a message from Kanon.

 _Keima-kun, please watch Channel I right now!_

 _Love, Kanon_

Keima gazed up and it was indeed Channel I on the TV.

"Can you turn the volume up a bit, dad?" Eri asked.

Keiichi did as his daughter asked and now they could hear better what the person on the TV was saying.

"-our sources confirm there wasn't any planned before and no-one knows what is the reason for such an ad hoc outdoors press conference. As for details-"

"A press conference?" Eri, who didn't know about what had happened today, repeated, curiosity in her eyes. "What does that mean?"

Keima completely forgot about his food. He stood up and walked to the third couch and continued watching, his mind reeling.

Why was Kanon organizing a press conference hours after what had happened today? This didn't make sense! Unless... unless today's events had forced Kanon to take the third option...

Namely, quit being an idol.

Before today Keima wouldn't think it was possible... but now... it made more sense. The only reason he had never advised for Kanon to do that was because Kanon loved being an idol. Granted, when she had started her career she'd done it mostly for attention, but now it was different. She was an idol, a shining star, and she had goals to accomplish... did she conclude that idol career was too dangerous? Did she think it'd be better to live a normal life with Keima than to be an idol without him?

Keima fished out his phone, quickly found Kanon on the contact list and started calling, ignoring the looks on his sister's and father's faces.

Kanon wasn't picking up.

"What's going on?" Mari, who was done with cleaning after the meal was back and placed some snacks on the table and sat next to her husband.

No-one answered her as the noise form the TV quieted down. It was showing a crowd of people ranging from teens to journalists. Keima even recognized that Nishihara guy among the gathered. In the center of the scene there was a podium where several people stood. In the center of it all was Kanon.

(* * *)

"Minna-san, thank you for coming," Kanon greeted everyone present before she bowed, "also I'm very sorry for calling you all here on such a short notice. I promise it won't take very long."

Short silence followed as everyone gathered waited for continuation.

"The reason I have called you here," Kanon continued, "is because I have an announcement for my fans... and a request... but before that I'd like to sing a song first."

Keima, Eri and the entire crowd gathered at the press conference made identical 'huh?' faces as Kanon took up a microphone and the music started. Keima and Eri recognized it. It was "Yes-Today".

Kanon started to sing, her voice was soft and melodic as always, but it seemed even more so. Like if the one singing it was an actual goddess, pouring everything she had into the song. The crowd apparently forgot about the conference as it was entranced by the song.

"I won't surpress it anymore! Come on come on come on, because because because it's love!" Kanon sang the finishing lines as the music faded away. A few moments have passed, a single thought on everyone's minds.

What was that song for?

"I realize you all must be very confused," Kanon said, aware of the general perplexity, "but please be patient, you'll understand in a few moments," Kanon then paused for a moment and spoke again.

"As you all know, my goal as an idol is to reach everyone with my songs and make all of you happier... but it wasn't always like that. There was a time when my goals were much more selfish. We all have our weaker moments. You're not alone in this, everyone. That's why I'm always happy when my singing can brighten someone's day."

"Of course, I wouldn't be here if it weren't for you, all of my fans. I want to thank you very much for all of your continuous support! I'm glad to have such wonderful fans. However," she paused for a moment, seemingly making everyone hold their breaths, "as selfish as it is, I'm afraid I have to ask you, my fans, for more."

A wave of whisper went through the crowd and Keima himself blinked, trying to make sense out of it? Was Kanon taking a break or something?

Meanwhile, Kanon continued.

"As I've told you, we all have our bad moments. Times when something goes wrong and we have to look back on things we've taken for granted. Something like that happened to me today. It made me realize that there are things that can't be taken for granted. Things and decisions that could make one regret something if wise and fast enough choices weren't made," at this point Kanon smiled brightly, "that is my advice to you my fans. Don't take things for granted. Don't wait till the opportunity slips by. And if you need strength you can always find it in my songs."

A short pause.

"However, idols are supposed to be role models. Thus, it would be hypocritical of me if I didn't heed my own advice... That's why I've made a decision. And here comes my selfish, yet humble request to all of you my fans," Kanon bowed again, "I know this might come as a shock and some of you might not agree with my decision... Nonetheless, I want to ask all of you to please accept my decision and support me on it, as selfish as this decision is."

Another pause, this time much longer as Kanon hung her head down a little, hiding her face in a shadow. When she finally raised her head the look on her face changed to that of determination.

"As I've told you twice already, I had moments of weakness throughout my career. Moments that were caused by my own deficiencies and lapse in judgment. Those were dark times. However," Kanon's features turned soft all of a sudden, a smile coming to her lips, "even in those dark times I was not alone."

A murmur came over the gathered people. Of course, Kanon wasn't alone! She had legions of fans!

"There is a person," Kanon continued, silencing everyone again, "a person who helped me when I was at my worst. A person who has shown me the right path. Person who supported me even though I ended up becoming a big bother... I'm not belittling any of my fans of course... but that person healed me. Made me who I am today. A person who would come to my aid when I'm in danger. A person who makes me feel safe... finally, it's a person who captured my heart."

By this point half of the crowd went "ooh"ed and the other half just froze in shock. Nishihara stuck out his chest proudly, flipping his blond hair.

"Kanon Nakagawa has someone she likes?" Mari asked curiously, not noticing that both Keima and Eri seemingly froze on their spots as well.

"The song I sang earlier, 'Yes-Today', was in dedication to this special person of mine... which brings me to my announcement," Kanon spoke again, "I decided to not let this chance slip by me and follow the voice of my heart," she looked up, the most determined look on her face yet as she shouted looking straight at the main camera.

"I love you, Keima-kun! Please go out with me!" she said as she bowed again.

The crowd went into shock, but that shock couldn't compare to the one that was happening in the Katsuragi household right now. Keima, Eri, Mari and Keiichi just went silent for several seconds, four pairs of eyes unblinking. The first one to react was Eri, who slowly turned her head in a mechanical way towards her brother. Mari and Keiichi noticed that motion and soon they turned towards their son as well, two jaws threatening to hit the floor.

Not that Keima himself was faring much better.

"I hope all of you will support my and Keima-kun's relationship!" Kanon said, a happy smile on her lips, "once again I'm sorry for taking your time. That is all."

The crowd remained silent for two more seconds and then a cacophony of voices exploded. Journalists rushed to the podium and climbed on each other in the effort to ask their question first, some of the journalist instead went in the direction of Daisuke Nishihara, who looked blankly into space as if his brain short-circuited.

"Are you sure this is alright, Kanon?" Okada asked while the staff tried to prevent the wave of answer-hungry journalists from flooding the podium. "There is going to be a backlash for that."

Kanon shrugged. "Yes, but my recent popularity growth should compensate for at least part of it, besides," the idol added as she smiled, "even if all my male teenager fans were to leave, I'd still have many others. My songs are meant for everyone, after all, young and old, boys and girls."

"What about Keima?" Okada asked. "Are you sure he'll be okay with this? Did he even agree to it in the first place?"

"He said he'll go out with me if I made our relationship public, so it's fine!" Kanon said with a smile. "And besides, all I have to do is to make sure that good things happen when you're dating an idol! Now," the pink-haired girl mused as she looked at the mass of journalists, "I think I need to actually go answer some questions or tomorrow the Internet's going to flood with unbelievable rumors."

"Like answering any questions is going to prevent _that_ ," Okada said as she observed Kanon heading towards the answer-seeking crowd, a single thought going through the manager's mind.

Congratulations, Kanon.

(* * *)

Many meters above the place the press conference was held, on a rooftop of a building a lone female figure was standing, observing Kanon being interviewed by three journalists at once. After several seconds, however, the figure turned to the sounds of the approaching footsteps of another female figure.

"Oh, good evening, Fox-san," the first, white-haired figure said.

"Don't call me that," the other, brown-haired, figure said back with an underlying threat in her voice.

"Ara... and here I thought we were a team."

"We're not a team, I was using you," the brown-haired woman said as she approached the edge of the building to look at the event taking place many stories below. "So it worked."

"Without a hitch," the white-haired figure said, "of course there's a chance Rimyuel will still find out and then we'll be in deep shit, but I doubt it'll happen. By the way, I hope you appreciate how much of my effort went into this? After all you couldn't have done it without me."

The brown-haired figure didn't reply.

"However, I have to say I'm impressed," the white-haired woman continued, "your operation was perfectly planned. The van, the idea about voice distortion, doing it while Rimyuel was away. Your predictions concerning the outcome were spot on as well. You understand Katsuragi and the idol well."

"You think I care for your praise?" the brown-haired figure said not even looking at the other person.

"Actually, I'm more interested in your reasons for doing this," the white-haired woman smiled a very sly smile, "after all a lot of _your_ effort wen into this as well? So what was it? Is it a solidarity between former yanderes? Or perhaps you still feel you're in Katsuragi's debt?"

The white-haired girl continued to smile outwardly, but inwardly she had to admit – the glare the brown-haired woman sent her and her eyes seemingly narrowed to mere slits, made even a powerful devil like her uncomfortable.

"It's none of your business," the brown-haired woman hissed menacingly. "And why were _you_ so eager to help me anyway?"

"Well, for one I like that you play dirty... and since you asked so nicely-"

"One more word..." the threat sounded like steel in the brown-haired woman's voice.

"You could also say that the look on that guy's face," the white-haired woman indicated to Nishihara, who was apparently in denial about Kanon liking someone else, "is enough of a reward for me... and besides," she turned to the other person, "Katsuragi once said 'a fake crisis is better than a real crisis' and I agree with that. Don't you?"

The brown-haired person didn't answer, instead turning around to leave. She made a dozen of so steps before she stopped.

"No-one else learns of this," she spoke in a commanding voice. "Ever."

"Of course," Nora Floriann Leoria said with a smile, watching the other person leave, "pleasure doing business with you, Yūzaki-san."

 **(* * *)**

 **Ta-dah!**

 **As you can see, Kanon had decided to officially date Keima and keep to her former contract instead of going for the new and improved one. Whether that was the best choice – time will tell. I also like that she used the "Yes-today" song before her announcement. It nicely shows that the yesterday Kanon is no more as she boldly confesses her love to Keima.  
**

 **And this concludes the second major arc in The World Kanon Only Knows. I hope you liked it. :)**

 **So, yeah, this chapter was a little weirdly paced, with the kidnapping and surrounding stuff taking entirety of it... but at least it was much more action-packed than the last one.  
**

 **And yes, as briefly as it is – Kaori** **Yūzaki, the "cunning evil(ish) queen" is back! The last time we saw her was in a hospital in Flag 16, whole 57 flags ago. I wonder how many people remembered she's a thing...  
**

 **But yeah, as you probably figured out by now, it was Kaori and Nora who were behind this entire kidnapping, which was pretty much fake and its purpose was to give Kanon a push to make the correct choice regarding the contract and to make Keima realize just how much Kanon means to him.**

 **I'm really hoping this came as a total surprise. Truth be told, the Kaori plot point was born a few months back and originally it was just her giving advice to Kanon, "from one (almost) yandere to another", but I ended changing it into this.**

 **As you might have also noticed, the kidnapping had been weird. On one hand it was well executed – the kidnappers knew where Kanon would be and how to subdue Apollo. They also used hagoromo dolls and managed to get away safely fairly easily despite having several devils and goddesses in hot pursuit. On the other hand... the kidnappers made obvious "mistakes", like letting Kanon get to her phone, not relieving her of her second stun gun and getting themselves caught with their guards lowered.**

 **As a side note, originally, when Kanon was kidnapped, I was planning for have 2 normal stun guns. The idea was for her to use one and have it knocked out of her hand, so the other stun gun would remain unused and unnoticed (kidnappers wouldn't realize she had two stun guns)... The reason for that is because I _completely_ forgot that Hinoki and Kusunoki had given Kanon a new stun gun that was _perfect_ for this occasion – small, easily concealable and with additional functions built in. Fortunately, I remembered it during writing. :P  
**

 **Anyway, to make it clear – Kaori and Nora made all those mistakes deliberately. Also, I needed Rimyuel out of the way to make everything believable, so she's in New Hell when this entire thing takes places. Moreover, getting away was considerably easy for Kaori and Nora, since Nora was both "kidnapper" and "rescuer", so she knew when the rescue was coming, working as a double agent of sorts. Double agent thing suits Nora just fine too. It actually suits both Nora and Kaori fine, which is why both women can get along so "well".**

 **With that being said, let just hope Keima, Kanon and Haqua will never figure out what really happened or there'll be Hell to pay. :P**

 **As for why Kaori and Nora did all this, well, the reasons are all there in the ending of the chapter. If it doesn't convince you, then I can't help you in any other way than stating that both of them are a bit weird and unpredictable. :P**

 **Another important thing to note is Keima himself, who has shown considerable emotional development that he wasn't even aware of until Kanon was in danger. How he will take to his new role of a boyfriend of the national idol? Even more interesting is that Kanon made everything public. I wonder how everyone else – from Eri, Mari and Kanon's parents, through Chihiro, Ayumi and Yui to Haqua, Tenri and Diana – will react to this new development?**

 **And most important of all – how will Kanon's fans react to it? Will they accept and support Keima and Kanon's relationship and let the have their moments... or will the paparazzi appear everywhere, taking photos of a mob of rabid fans chasing Keima? I guess we'll see. :)**

 **Ah, I almost forgot about Daisuke Nishihara xD. If you were wondering if he was going to annoy everyone for a bit longer, then right now he is pretty much out of the picture. Too bad, I almost feel sorry for him. Almost. :P**

 **Alright (that's 5th paragraphs starting with an "A" in a row xD), those author's note is long enough as it is, so we shall be wrapping this up soon.**

 **Anyway, like usual I want to kindly ask you to please review this chapter. It's especially important since this chapter ends a big arc and important developments have happened. Thus, I'd like to hear what do you think about those developments. Please, let me hear your opinions! If you haven't favorited or followed the story yet, the now's the time to do it. ;)  
**

 **Also (yup, 7th paragraph xD), a short note regarding possible future updates. I'll be working on next chapter of KanonNomi of course, but I might also post something else in the meantime. Namely, I want to continue posting one-shots. Moreover, I still want to make that 3rd chapter to Jun's "Clash of Ideals" two-shot. I'm not sure when it'll happen, but look forward to it!**

 **That's it for now!**

 **See you next time!**

 **P.S. Apparently, the site doesn't allow using two exclamation marks in succession, which is annoying :(. Not sure if I just never noticed it or it was changed recently, but I sure didn't know about it till now...  
**


	11. Flag 74: Mops and green tea

**Hello, everyone!**

 **I'm back... after nearly 3 month long absence... -.-'**

 **I'm so very sorry that it took me so long to update this... Kanon continues to prove to be a challenge and I was stuck on one part for very long time, but still, I have no excuse and I'm so freakin' angry at myself...  
**

 ***sighs* Anyway, I want to thank you all for your reads, favorites, follows and reviews. Below are the replies to the latest reviews.**

 **Ghost Man:** thank you, I'm glad the events surprised you and that you enjoyed them. As for the beginning, well, I'm not hiding that writing Kanon is not easy and that probably makes me miss some opportunities. Also, the spell check thing worries me. I do spell checking and more than once :/.

 **Sir Sleep-a-lot:** oh no! I crashed Sir! xD *reboots* Anyway, I don't particularly disagree, but I guess Kanon is used to nervous situations and knows how to follows procedures and plans automatically, so during the dangerous situation the adrenaline and her experience kept her together even though she was scared inside... but when everything was over and the adrenaline wore off her emotions took over she lost it. I'm very sorry about the gun thing. I think brain shutting off is actually the smartest response at times. The kidnapper conversation... I blame it on KaoriNore being in a hurry and under pressure too, as they wanted to get their point across before the help arrived. Heh, kinda hard to start a war if the people you're suppose to fight don't exist. As to whether Rimyuel'll find out... we'll see :P. Nakaragi sounds the best for some reason :). Anyway, thank you for the very detailed review and I'm glad you liked the chapter.

 **Red Glasses:** thank you for the detailed review, though I have to admit I don't fully get your point. As for the quotation marks, the way I use them changed during my fanfiction career and the way I use them is the method I read about somewhere, though I know it's not perfect. As for the story's length. I do want to make shorter stories. I actually don't care how many chapters or words does it take. I don't care that this chapter is over 7000 words. But I _do_ care that it took me almost 3 months to update. I blame some of it on the fact that Kanon is difficult to write about, but still, this is _several_ times slower than I'd like, so one of the ways to fix this is make shorter stories. As for Kaori Yuuzaki – I'd love to give her more of a role in this, but this, once again, requires ideas and time. Moreover, I don't want to write too much about her, because I haven't decided everything about her. Last time we saw her in hospital, so this proves she's in fact alive and as part-yandere it made sense to include her in KanonNomi. But I'm not sure how she should be like now and we'll have more Nomis where she could appear, so for now I don't intend for her to appear again in KanonNomi. As for the hookup... well, MioNomi had Urara too, I believe. As for this story, I don't know really :P.

 **Devil:** thank you and I'm very sorry, because this definitely isn't something that you'd call "fast chapter update".

 **Big Bad Beowold:** glad to hear the identity of Kaori was a surprise to you. :)

 **El Sasori69:** thank you for the review. I'm very sorry about this Haruhi spider boy thing. I do not plan to stop using Japanese expression though, so I'm sorry for that :/. I take the fake abduction comment as compliment then :P. As for babies... we shall see I guess :).

 **fss The Red Devil:** I think apology for posting the chapter so late is a good, though far from perfect, way to start this review response. Glad the swimming scene had the cringy emotional effect it was kinda supposed to have. As for the kidnapping, I do understand your "you don't always have dramatic events to progress" point, but with how hard it is to write KanoNomi, this kinda event helped me a lot. I'm glad you liked the conference/confession scene. P.S. Yeah, I did update Clash of Ideals, though it was mostly just calm aftermath with nothing really new and wasn't really a hit with my readers it seems :P.

 **Okay, I don't really have anything more to say, so let's get onto the chapter.**

 **Enjoy!**

 **Warning: this chapter contains some slight 4th wall breaking.  
**

 **(* * *)**

Keima Katsuragi stood unmoving and uncertain as he gazed at his destination – the Maijima Private High School campus and its entrance gate flooded with students. Some of them were moving through to get to their classrooms. However, some of the students – mostly males – didn't enter the school grounds, staying by the gate instead. Seemingly waiting for something. And Keima knew.

They were waiting for him.

They were waiting for Kanon's boyfriend to give him a piece of their mind... for starters.

Oh, how he wished he had hagoromo with him to turn invisible! He even looked around to see if Haqua was there and maybe she would take mercy on him. Then again, why would she? He had made fun of her and made her embarrassed too many times. No wonder, she wouldn't help him. She might even enjoy his bad luck.

Such misfortune, Keima thought as he started walking, trying not to look like himself. He had pretty decent 'look like a commoner skill' so he might just pull it off. He continued walking, gate getting nearer and nearer, he might just be able to pull it-

"Hey, you!" someone called.

Keima flinched and pretended he didn't hear anything in hopes he could just slip by.

"Hey, I'm talking to you otamega!" the guy grabbed him by his collar. Before Keima could come up with any answer, three more guys surrounded him, leaving him no room to escape. Why was it so similar to back when he was starting Kusunoki's conquest?

That didn't bode well...

"Listen, otamega," the guy in front of him said, his fist raised for emphasis, "I don't know who you think you are, but-"

Keima never learned what the guy wanted to say, because another voice interjected.

"Hey, leave him alone!"

The person who said it was a girl and one that Keima knew. It was Ayumi Takahara.

"You," the guy said, not looking very affected by the girl's appearance, "don't butt in! This is between me and him!"

Thud!

Keima blinked and then looked over his body. Weird. He didn't feel any pain. How come Ayumi had just kicked him and he wasn't hurt? And then he realized the impossible.

Ayumi had kicked someone and it wasn't him!

"I told you to leave him alone!" Ayumi shouted in the direction where the guy was lying, sprawled on the ground, several meters away and only because he was stopped by the school gates. Ayumi turned to glare at the other guys. "Do I make myself clear?"

The guys didn't have to be told twice.

"Are you alright?" Ayumi asked, approaching Keima. He nodded. "Good, then let's get going."

"To where?" he asked.

"To class of course," she responded.

(* * *)

"Okay, what was that back then?" Keima asked after a few seconds of silence.

"What do you mean?" Ayumi asked back, though she was obviously hoping to avoid the topic.

"You know exactly what I mean!" Keima said. "You protected me from those guys! Why? It's not like you at all!"

"Hey, don't say it like I'm a villain!" Ayumi shot him a glare, but Keima challenged her with a glance of his own, making Ayumi falter, "o-okay, I wasn't very nice to you in the past, so I'm making amends."

"Seems logical," Keima said, "except I'm not buying this."

"Alright, alright, geez... Kanon-chan called me and asked me to do this," Ayumi admitted, "there, happy now?"

"Do elaborate," Keima said, watching his surroundings, but it turned out Ayumi's presence repelled any other background characters.

"What's there to elaborate?" Ayumi asked. "Kanon-chan approached me and asked me to make sure that no-one bothered you at school."

Keima sighed soundlessly. So he had not only one or more devils close to him at all times, but he also had a guardian angel now?

"And you agreed?" he asked.

"Well, Kanon-chan seemed pretty desperate," Ayumi said, "she even offered me money if I did it."

"You took money from her?" Keima asked.

"No!" the dark-haired girl exclaimed. "Both you and her are my friends! Besides," she blushed a little bit, "you didn't deserve to be beaten over something like that!"

Keima was quiet. Was it just him or did Ayumi become much... nicer to him lately? And the redness on her cheeks hit him, because he realized it was the first – and rather weak – sight of interest from her in quite some time now, which meant Ayumi had moved on, which was good.

"So you did it for free basically?" the gamer asked.

"Well, yeah, basically," the runner said, "though as one of your friends I think I deserve to get to know a little more."

"What do you mean?" it was his turn to play dumb.

"Oh, c'mon, you know what I mean!" Ayumi exclaimed, making more heads turn in their direction. "A few days ago Kanon-chan confessed to you on TV and it came out of the blue... and everything seems to say that you didn't reject her."

"Perfect analysis," Keima said half-sarcastically.

"Don't use that tone with me, mister!" Ayumi's eyes narrowed. "How long had it been going on and what were you two doing on the rooftop a few days ago before me, Chihiro and Eri interrupted you?"

"Talking," Keima said and when Ayumi continued to look at him expectantly he added, "and here I thought out of the two of you only Chihiro was interested in such a gossip."

"Well, Kanon-chan and you _is_ big news," the dark-haired girl said, "I bet some people don't even believe it."

"Says the girl who believed a creepy otamega was going with a super idol after reading about it in a school newspaper," Keima noticed.

"I saw Kanon-chan confess to you back then as well," Ayumi reminded him, "anyway, stop beating around the bush! Spill!"

Keima sighed. "Kanon likes me and I decided to give it a try, provided Kanon would be able to make it official," he said. "I didn't expect anything to happen soon and Kanon was reluctant as well... but then the kidnapping happened."

"And it wasn't your doing at all," Ayumi said sarcastically.

"Are you insinuating I'd orchestrate an event that would put Kanon in danger?" Keima asked, his voice serious.

"So you two weren't making out on the rooftop back then?"

"Are you crazy!?"

"And Eri?" Ayumi continued, ignoring his remark. "She seems weird whenever I see her. I don't know, it's like she's-"

"Part happy, part in shock and part offended that I didn't tell her anything sooner," Keima finished for her.

"So that's why you two didn't come to school together," Ayumi mused.

Keima nodded.

"Anyway, speaking of shocked," Ayumi added when they reached the shoes lockers, "how was your family's reaction?"

"Stable and dynamic," Keima said as he put on his indoor shoes, remembering various moods Mari has gone through, including confusion, denial, shock, wrath, pride and glee as well as generally unchanging disbelieving expression on his father's face.

"Oh, c'mon," Ayumi grabbed his collar, preventing him from leaving, "you have to give me something more than three words here!" she crossed her arms over her chest. "I'm not letting you go to class until you tell me more."

"Fine," Keima said, "I'll answer one question, so choose it wisely."

Ayumi thought for a moment. "I assume you've met Kanon-chan at least once since the confession," she said, "tell me about it."

Keima sighed, remembering the scene.

(* * *)

"KEIMA-KUN!" Kanon exclaimed as she pounced him.

Keima didn't respond, the power of the glomp forcing the air out of his lungs.

"Calm down!" he said after a few moments, not even sure if he was talking to Kanon or to himself, his face a little red as the idol hugged him tightly. "How can you be so lax?" he added. "Did you already forget what happened yesterday?"

"It's okay, Okada-san and a few other people are outside the door, so it's fine," Kanon said, a smile and sparkles not leaving her face and eyes. Keima felt himself sweatdrop a little, remembering the yanderish tendencies of the idol and wondering if they would manifest themselves again now that he was in a relationship with Kanon.

He wondered what he got himself into.

"Listen," Keima said, which made Kanon look up. At least it was easy to get her attention. "I talked with Haqua, she promised to get you protection."

"Did she agree immediately or did you have to pester her?" Kanon asked weirdly lucidly, which surprised him.

"What does it matter?" he asked.

"Because I don't like you owing her!" he could feel her fingers dig a little more into his shoulders. "You have me now, right?" she pursed her lips. "Or were you lying when you promised me you were going to go out with me?"

"Why would I lie?" he asked, acting offended.

"It's not like you always told everyone the truth, me included," Kanon accused.

"Fair enough," Keima said, "so what can I do to prove my trustworthiness?"

"You know what, mister," Kanon said, pouting.

Okada glanced through the window just when Keima was leaning forward. She looked away immediately.

"Is it better now?" Keima asked as he pulled back.

"I'm not sure," Kanon said back with a smile, enjoying the aftertaste on hr lips, "I think you need to do it more to be certain."

(* * *)

"Whoa, whoa, whoa!" Ayumi said, interrupting his story. "Too much information! I don't need the details of you two making out!"

"It wasn't making out!" Keima said, "It was two kisses!"

"Ah, right," Ayumi said, her eyes narrowing, "I forgot that two kisses is nothing to a man who had like several dozen kisses with 20 different women!"

"Every single one of them," Keima mumbled under his breath, his eyebrow twitching, "one would have thought you'd all be just a little more grateful about me saving the world!"

"It's a little difficult to do when we're victims as well," Ayumi shot back.

"Can we at least go to class?" Keima asked. Ayumi nodded and soon they were walking through the halls, curious, shocked, unbelieving and angry glances and whispers surrounding them.

"Let's go through here," Ayumi led them through one staircase, leading to a corridor barely ever frequented by students, mostly used by the janitors.

"You sure have it tough though," Ayumi said as they were walking, "if people are like this even though Kanon-chan asked everyone for support then I hate to think what it'd be like if she didn't do this."

"I'd be dead probably," Keima said. Then again, back during the Mai-high festival it wasn't all that bad. Sure, he got many threats and hate calls and it's not like he got anything out of it, because the rumor about him and Kanon was (mostly) wrong.

Still, this 'idol dating' business certainly didn't look like how it played out in games. Not to mention he and Kanon couldn't even see each other all that much (which was one of the reasons he agreed to it in the first place – such a setting allowed him to retain some semblance of sanity instead of being dragged all the way into the real). Keima sighed wordlessly. He was feeling pretty clueless, thrown further than dating sims usually portrayed and in the real world no less with no hard grasp on what he felt for Kanon or how he was going to survive school, even with Ayumi acting as his bodyguard.

'Speaking of that,' Keima thought as he looked at Ayumi, 'what if people see the two of them and _misinterpret_ it and think he was two-timing Kanon or something?'

"Then again, you _are_ dating Kanon-chan," Ayumi mused, unaware of Keima's inner thoughts, "honestly to be able to date such a sweet, caring, pretty and popular girl as her, I bet half of the entire Japan male population would take your place in an instant. And honestly, I can't tell what Kanon-chan sees in you after all this time. If I didn't know any better it'd say you used some of your dirty gaming tricks again... so tell me, what is your next move going to be, Mr. Idol Boyfriend?" Ayumi asked and waited for answer.

And waited. And waited.

"Hey, are you listening to me?" she turned around to look at Keima, but saw nothing. She was alone in the otherwise empty corridor.

"Huh?" she blinked. "Where did he go?"

(* * *)

Keima was half-listening to Ayumi's monologue, when he suddenly felt a strong tug and was pulled away. He was pretty certain one of the high schoolers exploited Ayumi's lack of attention, but he had to reconsider when he felt a pair of lips claim his.

"Kanon!" he exclaimed as soon as they separated.

"Keima-kun!" the pink-haired idol said with a smile. He had to hand it over to her – she seemed in a pretty good mood every time she was around him.

"That's the second time you pounced on me during the same chapter!" the boy said. "If you're going to use the same event again then at least lengthen the gap a little!"

"What do you mean a chapter?" Kanon asked.

"Nevermind..."

"So, did you miss me, Keima-kun?" Kanon asked with a smile.

"We didn't see each other for only 2 days!" he said.

It was true. It was three days after Kanon's public confession. Fortunately, thanks to the combination of weekend and a national holiday, today was the first school day since then.

"Aww!" Kanon pouted and Keima didn't like how that face affected him. "You're so mean! And here I missed you so much!"

"Alright, I missed you too," Keima said, patting Kanon's head and watching her smile again.

"Hehe... that's more like it, Keima-kun," she hugged him again.

"You do realize you've just pulled me into a mop closet?" Keima indicated to the barely lit cramped space, full of buckets and with mops lining the walls. "How did you even know I'd be passing through that corridor?" he asked. "Did you plan this with Ayumi?"

"No," Kanon said, "you could say it was a woman's intuition... speaking of Ayumi-san," Kanon looked up at him, the slight grimace on her face appearing again, as her hands embraced his neck more tightly, "I don't like how close she was to you."

"You were the one who told her to guard me!"

"I know," Kanon said, "but, please, try to not get so close to her," her hands creeped up his back even more, as if she was scared some female hands were going to shot out of the wall and steal him away.

"I'm not!" Keima said, trying to ignore her hands on him and the fact that he could smell the weird and sugary scent on her. "What are you even doing at school?"

"Mou... it's the third year of high school you know?" she told him as if it was obvious. "I need to attend school more this time around."

"For what?"

"For my studies of course," the idol said.

"And I'm your personal tutor? he guessed.

"I'm glad you understand me so well," Kanon chirped, before she pulled back, "oh, I almost forgot... here," she handed him the bag that was on the floor.

"What is it?" he asked.

"Look inside and see for yourself," she advised him.

Keima did as he was told and found...

"Galges?" he said when he pulled three boxes out of the bag.

"Yep," Kanon said, smiling, "it's a gift!"

"Um... thank you, but I played that one though," he pointed to one of the boxes.

"That's why I bought three games, silly."

"Wasn't it expensive?"

"Says the guy who buys games by hundreds..."

"I didn't think you'd try to shower me with gifts for affections," he said.

"Hypocrite," she accused, "you've done that a lot as well! Besides, it's not like it's a bribe. It's compensation."

"For what?"

"For having to deal with my fans," Kanon explained, "I really would like to get you something else, but I didn't know what else would you like... which is exactly why we should go on a date and get to know each other better! How about the evening the day after tomorrow?"

"You seem in a big hurry," he noticed.

"Well, my schedule is busy and I know you have a lot on your plate as well with games and _girls_ ," she said the last word in a way that clearly indicated he should strictly keep relationships with all other females to friendship, "so we need to be efficient! That way I'll be able to do all my idol duties, attend some classes and you'll be able to go to school, meet others and play games and we'll still have time for ourselves!"

"And when I'm going to eat and sleep?!" Keima asked.

"I'm pretty sure a man like you can do it," Kanon assured, her hands coaxing him into obeying.

"That's impossible!"

Kanon smiled with her eyes closed for two seconds, before she looked at the boxes in Keima's hands, making him lean back against the door.

"Then the games have to go," Kanon said.

"Over my dead body!"

Kanon moved to snatch the games back, but she wasn't able to as the door behind Keima moved open and the gamer fell down to the floor.

"What the!?" Keima nursed the back of his head as he looked upwards... only to have a high school indoor shoe implanted on his face.

"Hey, where do you think you're looking!?" the voice and the shoe belonged to Ayumi who sported an angry face as she pressed her skirt against her body to prevent Keima from looking anywhere she didn't want him to look.

"What are you doing here!?"

"We came to look for you because we were worried when you suddenly disappeared!"

"It was her who kidnapped me!" Keima, with Ayumi's shoe still on his face, pointed to the general direction of Kanon, before he noticed something. "Wait... what do you mean we?"

Ayumi stepped back and Keima could see that it wasn't just her in the doorway. The "rescue team" also consisted of Eri, who was looking at them with wide eyes, and Chihiro, who was sporting the biggest, widest, sliest and the most delighted smile Keima had ever seen.

"Look what we have here!" Chihiro said louder than necessary, as if she suddenly got rid of her 'must act humble around Kanon' thing. And then her voice got all sing-song. "Kanon-chan and Katsuragi..."

Keima turned pale while Kanon turned red.

"...sittin' in a mop closet..."

"Don't you dare!"

"K-I-S-S-I-N-G!"

(* * *)

People were streaming out of classrooms, joining the already big group of boys and girls gathered on both sides of the corridor. Some were looking with wide-eyes and open jaws. Some others were whispering to each other. Still, everyone's eyes were focused on the pair walking through the middle.

Keima briefly wondered what caused the crowd to be this big. Was it simply because Kanon was at school? Was it because Kanon had a boyfriend? Or was it because the said boyfriend was him – the otamegane. Keima personally leaned towards the last option as he noticed the eyes of the crowd being focused on Kanon's hand, which was currently inside his, their fingers interlaced.

The reactions of people to him and Kanon waltzing through the corridor were varied to say the least. There were looks of shock and disapproval, whispers of excitement and disbelief. And then there were gazes of jealousy from many guys. Keima was sure if looks could kill he'd be but a smoking pile of ash already.

Why was their classroom on the third floor again? Oh, that's right, they were third year students now.

Kanon was mostly unaffected by the onlookers. She seemed relaxed and happy, her hand still in his. He didn't have to look to know that she was blushing, despite the fact that she was the one who insisted they walk to class holding hands. When he asked why, she told him it was to mark her territory, as if she was threatened. Keima reckoned it was because of Ayumi and Chihiro who nabbed them in the mop closet, but he didn't see _why_. Did Kanon view them as potential rivals? Real girls and their logic...

Not to mention that for nearly everyone at school it was hard to believe that Kanon would want to date an otamegane like him, so it was natural for them to suspect that Kanon was forced into this. That, in turn, made it look like it was _Keima_ not Kanon, who was marking his territory.

As on cue, he could suddenly feel a dark aura coming from a particularly big group of jealous boys standing together and glaring daggers at him. He was planning to ignore them, but Kanon suddenly stopped and turned to the group of guys. She was still smiling, but Keima could clearly feel an aura – one much more dreadful than the one the guys had – emanating from her in waves.

"Is there a problem?" the idol asked the boys, making Keima fully aware he was not dating just any idol, but a one who used to use stun guns first and ask questions later.

The guys cowered in panic, but were accidentally saved by someone asking for Kanon's autograph. At this the dark aura disappeared and Kanon happily signed the bag she was given. By the time she was done there was already a line of other people who wanted her autograph. Because of that they were almost late for the homeroom.

(* * *)

"I never thought a day would come when you'll be more famous than infamous," a voice said, making Keima turn around.

It was break time and, surprisingly, no-one tried to bother him and it had to do with the fact that people saw the proof they wanted to see and when the mystery was solved they lost interest. Maybe it was because talking to Kanon was more in demand compared to bothering the otamegane, especially considering how rarely Kanon attended school. Maybe it was because Kanon actually answered (some) questions about their relationship, while Keima would ignore all questions.

Or maybe no-one bothered him because Ayumi was sitting behind his desk, seemingly playing with her phone, but her eyes were attentive. Apparently, she was taking her protect-from-harassment role rather seriously.

Keima briefly glanced at Chihiro, who was the one who spoke to him, and then got back to the task at hand, or rather in hands – to playing his games.

"You could at least say something," the normal girl said angrily and Keima sighed. Guess Ayumi won't protect him from that kinda harassment.

"And why I should react to you picking on me?"

"I was complementing you, idiot!"

Keima blinked. "Since when do you-" he stopped when he felt someone kick his chair from behind, "I-I mean, is it really that different from usual?"

"Of course it is!" Chihiro exclaimed as if offended. "Normally people ignore you most of the time. Today _everyone_ is watching you. Even Yoshino-san!"

To prove her point Chihiro pointed to the girl with dark-violet hair pulled into a side ponytail sitting a few desks behind Keima. The said girl was looking at them, but the moment Chihiro pointed to her she hid back behind her book.

"Like I said," Keima spoke, "how is that different from usual?"

"Yeah, right," Chihiro said, "in what timeline does Yoshino-san watch you?"

"You'd be surprised," he mumbled.

"What was that?" Chihiro didn't catch that.

"Nevermind that," Keima said, "so what's up with that complimenting thing? I mean shouldn't you be asking me if I'm not using Kanon or have some ulterior motive to date her?"

"Naah," Chihiro said, "I know you wouldn't try anything funny with her."

Keima blinked. "How do you know that?"

"Let's seee," Chihiro drawled, "you're an avid gamer, disliked by most of your peers and you ended up dating a national idol who has... quirks."

"You mean taser-happy fingers and yandere tendencies?"

"Exactly," Chihiro said, "so let's see what would happen if you tried to cheat on Kanon-chan or upset her. First, she would fry you," the guitarist extended her hand and started counting on her fingers, "second, her fans would lynch you. Third, your mother would kill you. Fourth, me and Ayumi would kick you until you're a wet splotch on the floor. And fifth, Eri would sweep you remains into a trash bin where you'd belong."

"Thank you for summing that up," Keima said, "and speaking of things that could make Kanon mad, I'd prefer you didn't get too close to me before she gets jealous or something."

Chihiro moved back, except not in fear, but in indignation or disgust. "Eww, why would I want to get close to you?" she asked. "Seriously, get off your high horse, Katsuragi! I don't know what Kanon-chan sees in you. I'm leaving to make place for your inflated ego!"

"She has a point you know?" Ayumi said from behind him.

"Like I don't," Keima said back, before going back to his game. Of course, the way this scenario was unfolding was far from ideal, but, considering it was the real world, it was still better than Keima had anticipated. Of course, some unforeseen and difficult events were sure to happen and Keima was clueless as to where all this was going in the long run, but still... so far he had survived.

However, there was this funny feeling that picked at the back of his head. It was almost as if he had forgotten something important, but he couldn't figure out what. That nervous feeling continued to accompany him while he played his games. After several more minutes of peace Ayumi made a bored sigh.

"Are you going to just sit here for the entire day?" she asked.

"I'm not leaving the safe zone if that's what you're asking", Keima said neutrally, aware that one kick form Ayumi could break chairs, bones and gaming consoles.

"A safe what?" Ayumi asked back.

Keima groaned.

"Safe zone is mechanic in some games where player-vs-player is allowed that defines safe places where players cannot harass or kill other players," he explained.

"So I'm supposed to stay in the classroom with you day after day?!" Ayumi asked, obviously terrified of the prospect of staying still for extended period of time, before turning to her left. "Chihiro, swap with me!"

"Ugh... I'd rather not," the other girl answered.

"Some best friend you are," Ayumi whined.

"Can't you just go?" the normal girl said. "It's not like anyone would be stupid enough to try messing with him when Kanon's at school and let's be honest, he's not worth the trouble anyway," she finished, ignoring the I-can-hear-you look Keima was giving her, "I'm sure Kanon-chan would be okay with it."

"Well, you have a point," the runner smiled and stood up before she stopped dead in her tracks and uttered an uncertain 'uh-oh'.

Keima didn't even had the time to decide whether he cared for whatever was happening, when he felt something hit him from the side. A second later Keima realized what was the thing he had forgotten about.

And it wasn't even a thing!

(* * *)

"Umm... Kanon-chan," a shy teenager girl said to the idol surrounded currently by a swarm of fans, pointing to Kanon's classroom, "umm... I don't want to poke my nose into your relationship, but who is that man that seems to be harassing your boyfriend?"

Kanon reacted immediately, her eyes narrowed and dark aura emanating from her. Did someone dare to harass Keima-kun despite her and Ayumi-san's presence, she thought as she rushed back to class to help Keima... and then she stopped in the doorway, looking at the scene in front of her.

Ayumi and Chihiro were having very uncomfortable looks on their faces like they didn't know what to do. Their classmates that remained in the room were looking even more confused. And Kanon could understand that as she watched Keima being all but _snuggled_ by a man and that man was...

"Yui-san!"

Indeed, the "man" turned out to be no-one other than Yui Goidō. Now how did Kanon (and Keima, judging from the way he looked as if a prey caught by a predator) not foresee this? Did making Keima her boyfriend make Kanon lower her guard? Was she so focused on her fans that she didn't notice one of her most dangerous love rivals entering the classroom right under her nose?

"Oh, good day, Kanon!" Yui said back with no sign of fear or embarrassment, making the jaws of students around (and the ones' in crowd that was gathering around Kanon) almost unhinge in shock.

Just who was this person who clung to Kanon-chan's boyfriend and addressed the idol directly like that?!

"Do you mind telling me what do you think you're doing to my boyfriend?" Kanon asked, her voice sounding calm, but Ayumi and Chihiro could hear the underlying tone and feel the aura radiating off the idol.

"I think I'll go get some bread from the bread stand," Ayumi said to no-one in particular before running out of the classroom in a blink of an eye. Chihiro on the other hand hid behind a girls magazine, which would be a valid excuse, if the magazine wasn't upside-down. At the very least it seemed like the runner and the band leader didn't want to choose sides when it came to Kanon and Yui.

"Asking Keima-kun out on TV doesn't make him your boyfriend," Yui replied calmly as if that explained and solved everything, before going back to her snuggling attempts.

Kanon didn't say anything to that. Instead she walked to Yui and literally wrenched Keima out of her hands.

"Hey, I was first!" Yui complained, but stopped when Kanon grabbed her hand. "What are you-"

"You stay here," Kanon said to Keima, who was looking like he had just been fished out of the water, before turning to Yui, "and you... you come with me!" and with this the idol dragged the drummer out of the classroom.

(* * *)

"What is the meaning of this?" Yui asked a few minutes later.

The two of them were on one of the rooftops. Luckily, the crowd was too shocked by the situation (and Yui's not obvious gender) to manage to follow them here.

"I want to talk with you obviously," Kanon said her arms crossed over her chest, "I'll say it once more – Keima-kun is my boyfriend!"

"I told you, just because you confessed in public doesn't mean you're going out together," Yui said, confident as ever, "you confessed before, you should know it won't be enough."

"If so, then why were you trying to... to... to smother Keima-kun like that moments ago?!" Kanon challenged. "Why there would be the need for that otherwise?"

"I was just showing my love to Keima-kun," Yui said back, "anyway, you have no proof that you and Keima-kun are going out."

"Of course Kanon has proof!" a new voice resounded and the actually angry face of Apollo appeared on the nearby glass pane. "Katsuragi had finally come to his senses and him and Kanon are a happy couple now!"

"That might be a bit of an exaggeration, but yeah," Kanon said blushing, before turning back to Yui, "I can't believe you just assumed things like that and didn't try like, I don't know, ask me or Keima-kun! I confessed a few days ago! You had enough time to do it!"

"I was out of the country, so I learned of your confession today," Yui said and Kanon groaned. It made sense: if Yui wasn't in Japan at the time the confession was made then it was natural that she didn't go after Keima immediately after. Her lack of activity also made Kanon (and apparently) Keima forget about her in the first place.

"But damn," the drummer said, snapping Kanon's attention back to her, "I knew I couldn't leave Keima-kun alone like that! No matter," Yui pointed her finger at the idol, a determined expression on the drummer's face, "as an idol you can't be around Keima-kun all the time! You can't keep him away from me!"

"I don't plan to," Kanon said calmly.

"Yeah! Wait, what?" Yui asked, for the first time visibly surprised. Apollo also made a surprised face.

"What are you saying, Kanon?" the goddess asked, but Kanon ignored her.

"I like you and consider you a friend, Yui-san," the idol told the drummer, "I don't want to fight you... but you're underestimating me. You're underestimating the bond between me and Keima-kun," Kanon continued, the determination in her eyes matching Yui's, "true, getting to Keima-kun's heart certainly isn't easy... but I had some success. I wouldn't have done that confession otherwise... and that's why I'll trust Keima-kun."

"Trust Keima-kun?" Yui and Apollo repeated, neither understanding.

Kanon nodded. "Back then when I was stabbed, Keima-kun was the one who saved me and I believed in him. I believed he'd be able to solve everything on his own, against all the odds. And I was right," she said, her eyes getting a distant look, before she continued. "I believed in Keima-kun then and I'll believe in him now. I believe he'll continue to strengthen our bond, no matter how slowly it will happen. Thus, there's no need to keep or hide Keima-kun away from you. I believe our feelings will protect him... and if you somehow manage to charm him... then so be it... it's Keima-kun's right to choose who he want to be with," Kanon finished.

"I'm not sure I get it, but it's a challenge, right?" Yui said with fire in her eyes, making Kanon sweatdrop, "in that case, I'll get back to the classro-" she turned away and wanted to run back into the building, but was stopped by Kanon holding her by the collar of her school uniform.

"Wait, I'm not done yet," the pink-haired girl spoke, "I said I won't keep you away from Keima-kun by force and if you think you have what it takes to win him over then be my guest... but that doesn't mean you can do anything you want," the idol said, her voice becoming harder, "whether you like it or not, Keima-kun and me _are_ going out right now, so if you try anything physical like you did today or you'll cross the line in any other way, then we'll be back to this conversation... and it won't be pretty..."

"Heh, and here I thought you were a quiet and gentle girl nowadays," Yui said, the glance she was giving Kanon changed, as if the idol gained more respect in the drummer's eyes, "but I see the old possessive Kanon Nakagawa is back... I don't blame you though. Keima-kun is worth it! And right back at you – if I hear of you abusing Keima-kun, you'll have to deal with me!"

"You won't," Kanon assured.

They stayed like that for a few moments, neither girl blinking, before Yui closed her eyes and sighed.

"I guess there's no point staying here. I have Keima-kun's heart to win! See ya!" the drummer said as she turned around and walked away. Kanon waited till the tea-green-haired girl left the rooftop... and then plopped down on the bench, sighing.

"For the record," the pink-haired goddess spoke from her glass pane after a few quiet moments, "in my private opinion allowing Mars' hosts to be so close to Katsuragi is a really bad idea... but other than that you did really good. You showed her who's the boss!"

'I'm not so sure,' Kanon thought as she gazed at the clouds lazily traveling towards the horizon. 'I guess, all that is left is to believe in Keima-kun... Then again,' she thought as she stood up, 'I should better get back to the classroom as well in case Yui-san tries something really outrageous again...'

'Come to think of it,' Kanon thought as she got up, 'if Yui-san is like this, then I definitely need to make that date with Keima-kun happen soon!'

 **(* * *)**

 **Okay, here you have it – Keima's first day of school after Kanon's announcement. So we have other students trying to harass Keima, Ayumi coming to the rescue, a romantic rendezvous in a mop closet, Chihiro having a lot of fun with the said rendezvous, Chihiro being grossed out by Keima, Keima acknowledging the existence of Light Novels characters like Asami Yoshino, Kanon and Keima failing to foresee the obvious assault by Yui and, finally, Yui and Kanon having a rivalry talk on the rooftop.  
**

 **Not to mention Kanon's yanderish traits seem to have reawakened for some reason. :P**

 **And if you're wondering the title of the chapter alludes to the mop closet scene and the color of Yui's hair (at least according to some sources).**

 **Aso to what is my opinion about this chapter... on one hand the plot didn't really progress as much as I'd like to... on the other hand the chapter has both funny and romantic moments in it and I had writing/reading about them. Also, I managed to use "I believe in Keima-kun" thing that further shows how Kanon views Keima, so it is a progress of sorts.  
**

 **Still, that all doesn't change the fact that this chapter is beyond late, so I won't ask what I always ask, 'cause I'm not sure I deserve it...**

 **I do have some general plans for the next chapter and we're slowly getting to the part when I have to use my other plot points, so it might be easier to write from now on. I'd like to post the next chapter at the start of October, but I don't know if it'll actually happen.**

 **Anyway, I hope you've enjoyed this chapter and I hope you'll wait for the next one.**

 **I guess that's everything for now.**

 **See you next time!**

 **P.S. This chapter's references were partially brought to you by A Certain Magical Index (such misfortune...).  
**

 **Edit:** ** **One more thing I forgot to mention. Those last two chapters (Flags 73 and 74) had a plot hole, namely Mars was mentioned to be in the rescue party during Kanon's kidnapping in Flag 73 and now in Flag 74 it's mentioned that Yui was out of the country. I fixed the previous chapter, removing mentions of Mars.  
****


	12. Flag 75: Dames and games

**Hello.**

 **This is usually the place where I greet you, apologize for being late and talk about the "making of" of the current chapter for a while.**

 **But today's a bit different. Today there's something I'd like to discuss with my readers. Actually, it's more like an appeal. I'm sure you don't want to listen to a long explanation, so I'll try to keep it short.  
**

 **I know people have less and less time nowadays. I also know that the KamiNomi fandom is not a very big one. But still I love it and that's why I can't help but be saddened and surprised when I see a very good stories that get barely any reviews. And that is, in short, my appeal to you, my dear readers.**

 **Please review other stories in this fandom!**

 **I know that not many people actually review. It can be easily seen by comparing the number of views/visitors to the number of reviews. But reviews are important. They help us, the writers, much more than views, favorites and follows normally can.**

 **Reviews allow us to not only get opinions and help fix mistakes. They also allow to see that people care. They gave us energy to continue.**

 **Thus, I strongly encourage you, dear readers, to leave more reviews, even if they're just something as simple as "enjoyed it, good story/chapter".**

 **That's why I ask you to see what stories have been posted recently or do a search on your favorite characters and see if something interesting was posted.**

 **And if you're in a hurry and can't leave too many reviews and have to decide whether to review my story or someone else's, then I prefer you review that other story.**

 **That's it – just a humble request for you, readers, to let us, writers, know how exactly you feel about the stories we've made.**

 **Thank you for your attention, now let's move on to the chapter at hand.**

 **Originally, it was supposed to be a longer (around 9–10 thousand words without the author's notes) chapter and the part that you see** ** **here** was actually was finished for a while now. I just originally planned one chapter, but in the end I decided to divide it in two. The next part is almost finished and I should post it in 10 days or so.  
**

 **Also, here is where I'd normally put responses to the reviews, but to keep the beginning author's notes short I decided to put them on the ending author's notes. This might become the permanent setting.**

 **Anyway, onto the chapter!**

 **Enjoy!**

 **(* * *)**

"So Kanon-chan has asked you to go out on a date with her?" Tenri Ayukawa asked, while she continued to shuffle the deck of cards in her hands as Keima Katsuragi groaned, not looking from above his PFP.

"Of course, _that_ is the part you're interested in, instead of the part where Yui assaults me?" he said.

Him and Tenri were in his room for another one of Keima's "progress reports" like Tenri came to call them. This time they were in his house instead of hers, because as Keima had put it "I'm not looking forward to seeing your mother's reaction to all that".

"Actually," Tenri mused, "you told me almost no details about what happened in the mop closet. So how abou-"

"Next question, please," Keima interjected firmly.

"Hmm..." Tenri thought for a few seconds, "then how about you tell me about the people's reactions to the news?"

"I told you that already," Keima said, hoping that Tenri didn't mean what he thought she meant.

Tough luck.

"Ooh, I don't mean the reaction of your family or your classmates or students in general," Tenri said, "I mean the reaction of our friends."

"I didn't really meet Shiratori gramps or that blond idiot buddy in a while."

"Our female friends, Keima-kun," Tenri specified, a small smile on her lips.

Keima groaned again. "Since when are you interested in gossip?" he asked.

"True, but it's different when it's you," Tenri said, "and where better to ask about the details than the source?"

Keima sighed as he remembered some of those "details".

(* * *)

"Homeroom is over. Go for your next class... except you, Katsuragi-kun."

Keima shivered as he heard his own name being called. The entire class was packing up after their homeroom and leaving for their first period. Everyone, but Keima.

Nikaidō's eyes were trained on him as she continued. "You stay for a moment longer. I need to have a talk with you... alone!" she added with a hiss, noticing a pair of curious brown eyes at the doorway that quickly disappeared.

"Please, tell me it's not what I think it is," Keima said as he approached the teacher's desk.

"Do you even realize what you're doing?" Nikaidō asked.

"So it is that."

"Answer, the question!"

Keima rolled his eyes. "No, I lost my mind and I was just asking out random people."

"Don't try that sarcasm thing with me!"

"Then don't talk to me like you're a teacher who caught a delinquent trying to seduce a girl or like I'm a punk who dates a celebrity for fame," Keima retorted.

"Well, you kinda were like a delinquent, you seduced plenty of girls and you _are_ dating a celebrity," Nikaidō countered, "and I _am_ your teacher."

They kept looking at each other for several moments, before Keima groaned. "It's funny how Tenri believes in me more than you do," he noticed, "how about you trust me a little more?"

Nikaidō sighed. "I guess you're right," she looked up at him, her gaze softening, "I just worry about you two."

"Two?" Keima repeated. "Like Kanon as well?"

"Of course," Nikaidō snorted, "don't make me look like a villain. I care for Kanon and the others too," the other woman's gaze softened again, but Keima could feel something beneath it. He guessed that Nikaidō didn't want others to suffer how she did, "I just hope you know what you're doing."

(* * *)

"So, do you, Keima-kun?" Tenri asked.

"You know I don't," Keima answered, "at least not fully."

"I see," Tenri said as to herself, before presenting Keima with a set of cards, "now pick a card, don't show me, remember it and put it back," the dark-haired girl requested and Keima done as he was asked, "what about other girls?"

Keima just sighed.

"Do you seriously want to hear every reaction?" he complained, but complied nonetheless. "Well, Tsukiyo _insisted_ I visit her clubroom and she seemed a little peeved when I got there... and then Vulcan came out," he shivered.

"I hope she didn't do anything to you," Tenri said, stopping doing magic gestures, her tone becoming a little more sombre.

"I'm fine," Keima said, before quickly continuing the previous topic, "anyway, Shiori didn't have anything to say... or at least didn't manage to get any words out."

"Uh-huh," Tenri uttered. "What else?"

"Mio gave me a 'didn't know you had it in you, commoner' and hit me on the back out of nowhere, almost making me fall to the floor... I'm glad I didn't really meet Kusunoki lately. Her 'pat on the back' would probably send me half into a wall."

"How about, Hinoki-san?" Tenri asked.

"Well, Sumire called me to advertise her shop. Twice. Said her shop would be a great place for a date," Keima continued, purposefully avoiding Tenri's question, "and Nagase and Urara. Do you know what they did?"

"Umm... gave you, 'are-you-sure-what-you're-doing, better-don't-play-around, let-me-show-you-how-to-treat-a-lady' kinda speeches?"

"You sound as if you were there," Keima noticed, before sighing. "And I'm pretty sure Minami is tailing me half the time..."

"That's not so bad."

"...and trying to tail Kanon the other half."

"I'm sure she's just curious and excited," Tenri said, "I bet you impress her."

"She should focus on her own life more," Keima said, "by the way, what about Nanaka?"

"Oh, she didn't really have much of a reaction per se," Tenri said, "just... she didn't like that some of my classmates make... certain comments."

Keima groaned. He just hoped Nanaka wouldn't say too much by accident.

"How about Haqua-san?" Tenri asked.

"I didn't see her for a while now and I'm not really looking forward to talking to her about this. The same goes for the other devils."

"I see... now, is this the card you picked?" Tenri asked, showing him ace of spades.

"No, I had four of clubs," Keima said.

"Oh," Tenri said quietly, "I guess this trick is more difficult to master."

"..."

"..."

"Are you doing a show or practice?" Keima asked.

"..."

"Am I your magic tricks guinea pig now?"

"Your words not mine, Keima-kun."

"Hey!" Keima exclaimed, his eyebrow twitching, but Tenri only giggled.

"How about you tell me more about Yui-san?" the dark-haired girl said, which immediately earned a groan from Keima.

"She's on the global offensive... or would be if it wasn't for Chihiro and Ayumi," he said, "Chihiro actually thought it was very entertaining... till the point where it started to affect the band. She doesn't think it's so funny now."

"So what does Yui-san exactly do?" Tenri asked.

"Visits my classroom all the time, brings me food, offers me games, tries to chat with me."

"Well, at least she doesn't try physical contact, right?"

"Yeah, but still she's difficult. She's almost as bad as everyone else combined."

"Did you try to tell her you aren't interested?"

"Of course I have! She knows I'm not!" Keima said. "It doesn't work"

"What about your classmates?" Tenri asked.

"What do you mean?"

"Have they gotten used to the sight of you being surrounded by Kanon-chan and Yui-san?"

"Don't even start on that," Keima said.

Indeed, accepting the fact that Keima Katsuragi has quite suddenly evolved from 'the otamegane' to 'that boy Kanon-chan and the Goidō heir have their sights on' was too much for other students. Nonetheless, the opinion the general student body had on him did change from disgust, contempt and pity, to shock, disbelief and begrudging respect, bordering on fascination.

The last one reminded Keima that it wasn't just him and Tenri in the room. Though unseen and quiet, the tactician goddess was still there somewhere, lurking in the shadows and listening to every word. Keima could almost feel her eyes on him and while he was glad Diana was not attacking him in fury, he felt a little uncertain.

"In that case," Tenri put the cards and other magical accessories away and focused on Keima, "let's move onto the date you had with Kanon-chan,"

"Had?" Keima repeated.

"It already happened right?" Tenri asked neutrally. Keima rubbed his hair, wondering if Tenri just guessed, deduced it or learned from someone else. Not that it was surprising – she had been keeping contact with Dokurō and Shiratori gramps years before he had first heard of them.

"Alright," he said as he remembered how it went down.

(* * *)

"This is ridiculous!" Mari Katsuragi said as she put the hair gel away, "that's it! Where are the scissors!?"

"It's just one lock of hair!" Keima said, the prospect of his mother wielding the most dangerous tool since he had met Vulcan not appealing to him in the slightest.

"You are going on a date with Kanon Nakagawa today," Mari reminded him the obvious, "I don't know how you managed to make that miracle happen in the first place, but I'm not letting it go to waste, so stay still!"

Keima did as he was told and watched his stubborn bed hair fall to the ground defeated a moment later. Mari looked at it with superiority and opened her mouth, but Keima didn't learn what she wanted to say, because an excited voice came from the direction of the front door.

"She's here! She's here!" Eri was bouncing like an excited 5 year old. "Kanon-chan's here!"

"What!? Already?" Mari looked at the clock, as if she had expect for Kanon to be half an hour late. "No time to waste!" in record time she brought Keima upstairs and told him to dress, before going back to the front door just in time when the bell rang.

"Good day," Kanon said when the door opened.

"Ah, welcome!" Mari said with a beaming smile as she let Kanon in.

"You must be Keima-kun's mother," the pink-haired girl said and bowed, pretending she didn't know who Mari was, "it's nice to meet you, Katsuragi-san."

"Oh no, the pleasure is all mine," the orange-haired woman replied, bowing as well, "and please, call me Mari!"

"Aah, alright, Mari-san," Kanon said trying to sound confident. She was going for the good first impression after all.

"Here, make yourself at home," Mari brought the idol to the living room, "Keima will be here soon," the older woman said, before leaving and going upstairs. Kanon could hear her yelling something along the lines of 'what is taking so long up there!?'.

Kanon didn't have the time to react to that as a dark-haired blur pounced on her with a loud cry of "Kanon-chan!"

"I missed you too, Eri," Kanon laughed as she patted her greatest fan on the head and watched the female Katsuragi twin turn into jelly. Kanon then remembered one of the things she needed to do and figured it was the perfect chance, so she stepped back, her expression becoming more serious. "Though I have heard that you are angry with Keima-kun. Is that true?"

Eri immediately huffed in annoyance. "Yes! Nii-sama didn't tell me that he was going to go out with Kanon-chan! He didn't even tell me anything was happening! He knows how I love Kanon-chan and he kept me out of the loop! I mean I'm happy, but I'm also sooo mad!" the former devil said, flailing her arms in emphasis.

"Now, now, I do understand you," Kanon said, getting the other girl's attention, "but it wasn't Keima-kun's fault. It was me who made it hard for him, so if you have to be angry with anyone, then be angry with me," she finished as she hung her head low.

"But I could never be angry with you, Kanon-chan," Eri said like if it was obvious.

"Then please do not hold a grudge towards Keima-kun anymore, okay?" Kanon asked, before she pulled something out of the bag, "And here's a little something to compensate for me and Keima-kun troubling you."

"What is this?" Eri wondered as she examined the piece of paper in front of her, "a ticket?"

"More than that," Kanon said, "it's a permanent free-of-charge pass for any event of mine you'd like to attend."

Eri stayed unmoving for a moment, but when the meaning sank, the dark-haired girl's face lit up in a radiant smile.

"Thank you, Kanon-chan! You're the best!"

Kanon didn't have much time to retaliate, because there was some commotion outside and soon after that the door opened and Keima entered, followed by his mother.

"Hey," Keima said, trying his best to ignore the dreadful aura coming from his mother. He was apparently expected to greet his date differently.

"Hey," Kanon said back, the nervousness that subsided when talking with Eri was now back with vengeance, especially considering Keima's appearance. It wasn't anything fancy. Actually it was close to what Keima was normally wearing at home: a pair of trousers and a shirt. It was a little more formal and looked better on him than usual. He was also better groomed and Kanon immediately noticed the lack of his famous bed hair. All-in-all he was looking cute and quite handsome, at least in her opinion.

Well, it wasn't as if it was the first time Kanon thought of him that way, especially when those eyes of his were on her. Kanon felt even more nervous under his gaze, hoping the attire she had chosen for the occasion was fine. She didn't aim for fancy either like the outfits she used on stage; rather she wanted to chose something more simple. Thus, she had picked a pale yellow sundress, with no patterns that worked well with the color of her hair (or at least she thought it did). Kanon hoped such an outfit would make her look more approachable and less distant.

"Would you care for a cup of tea?" Mari said as if offering the hospitality her son failed to provide.

"I'm terrible sorry, but I have to decline," Kanon said, "my driver is waiting for us outside."

"I see," Mari said as she put her arms on Keima's shoulder a little firmer than necessary and pushed him in the direction of his girlfriend, "in that case have fun you two!"

(* * *)

"Good day," Keima said as soon as he entered the back of the car after Kanon and saw that not only was there a driver, but also Okada, who was in the passenger's seat.

"Good day, Katsuragi-kun," Okada greeted him.

"I'm sorry, Keima-kun," Kanon said quietly, "but Okada-san insisted on coming as well, as our guardian."

"And chaperone," Okada added, "I'm sure you understand."

"I do," Keima said. It was better that way. Kanon was basically being guarded all the time by New Devils, so there'd be no full privacy anyway.

Kanon smiled when she saw he was okay with it and then inched closer to him, leaning on his shoulder a bit. Keima was aware of the slight heat on his cheeks, just as he was aware of Okada's eyes watching them through the rear mirror.

(* * *)

"A movie?" Keima confirmed the obvious as they stopped in front of a cinema.

"That's right," Kanon said, fidgeting a little, "I'm sorry but I've chosen the movie as well."

The sentence felt hanging as if Kanon wanted to add 'I hope you'll like it', before realizing he probably wouldn't.

"It's ok," he said, exiting the car and moving to her door before opening it and extending his hand, hoping it will help to distract her from her doubts. It worked as a charm, if the red hue on Kanon cheeks was any indication.

(* * *)

"I'm sorry," Kanon said quietly ten minutes later as they took their designated seats in the cinema hall, waiting for the commercials to start, Okada sitting one row behind them.

"For what?" Keima asked.

"Because of me you ran into more problems with your classmates, your mother and sister," Kanon explained, her cheeks colored again, but more in shame this time, "and because it can't just be the two of us… the car driver was actually a trained bodyguard and-"

"And there was a car with four more bodyguards following us, I know," Keima finished for her, "you don't have to worry about it. I'd rather have them be there than risk something happening to you again."

"As usual, you're quick to catch on things," Kanon said, her cheeks reddening more at the concern he had shown for her, "I just don't think it's fair… I want to be able to do more for you, Keima-kun," she finished even more quietly.

Keima heard it and felt his cheeks heat up more at that. Come to think of it that was kinda a weird development. Kanon had started as a girl with attention issues, that had been all about staying in the spotlight. Then during and after the time when Keima had been searching for the goddesses Kanon had turned into a relatively calm and supporting girl, gentle and next to non-imposing. Then very recently he had seen some of her yanderish and selfish personality traits resurface along with the fact that she was very eager for contact, physical or otherwise. And right now she was worrying about him, acting selfless again. He wondered if those up-and-down changes were cyclic, after all.

"I'm sure you'll think of something then," he assured her, though Kanon was far from certain.

Keima wasn't really someone who wanted to make out all day or share the attention of a celebrity. Kanon also didn't want to give him money, because that sounded like she was buying his affection. Besides, being a minor she didn't have that much money available anyway…

Her thoughts were interrupted when the cinema screen blinked to life and the advertisements started. And the first one was... Kanon herself, performing her new special edition of "Happy Crescent". Kanon forgot that this was a thing. She suddenly felt weird when the audience around her visibly perked at the sudden music, looking at the idol, while at the same time not looking at her at all.

"That reminds me," Keima continued his voice a little louder now giving the booming sounds coming from the speakers, "I noticed no-one is making a fuss about you. Are you using an illusion again?"

"Yes," Kanon replied, "to Okada-san and most people it looks like I'm wearing a wig, but you, your mother and Eri see me with my normal appearance."

"Wait," Keima said, "does that mean everyone else sees Kanon Nakagawa's boyfriend going to movies with _girl other than Kanon Nakagawa?_ " he asked in horror.

"Don't worry, I thought about that as well!" Kanon assured him. "Apollo cast another spell when we were in the car. For Okada-san and my escort you look normally, but other people see a completely different person.

"So we look like completely random pair to most people? Sounds like a pretty sophisticated spell," Keima commented and Kanon could sense a smug goddess smirking at the back of her mind.

Neither of them could speak anymore, because the advertisements ended and the movie started.

(* * *)

"So how was the movie?" Tenri asked.

"It was a romance movie of course," Keima said, "Kanon liked it."

"How about you, Keima-kun?"

"It didn't seem that special to me," the gamer answered with a shrug, but as expected, Tenri saw right through it.

"That bad, huh?"

"It can't be helped, the way they make these movies..." he went on a rant, disassembling the chick flick genre according to his galge tenets, making Tenri giggle.

"Glad to hear some parts of you never change," the dark-haired girl said, "did you give Kanon the same speech?"

"Of course not," Keima said, "that would spoil her fun."

"But the way it is now, she might take you to a similar movie next time?"

"So?"

"Don't you want to go to a movie you'd enjoy next time?"

Keima shrugged. "Galge adaptations aside, I doubt I'd truly enjoy the movie itself, no matter what kinda movie it was and this way Kanon at least can have fun. I don't think she has many opportunities to go to a cinema with someone she likes to watch a movie she likes."

"So Keima-kun new-found tendency to sacrifice his time and preferences for others' sake has reached new heights," Tenri noted her voice torn between pride and anxiety, "you shouldn't get overboard with it though or you might lose what makes you, you."

"Don't worry," he said, "everytime I'm getting too close either to the real or to the virtual there's you and Chihiro who pull back in the other direction."

"And at other times Kanon-chan is pulling you in her direction," Tenri said, "so what happened after the movie?"

"Well, Kanon took me shopping. For clothes."

"Really?" Tenri asked. "So she made you follow her and showed off various outfits with you getting bored stiff in between."

"That'd be a textbook game event, but you misunderstood. Kanon wasn't buying clothes for herself," Keima said, "she was buying clothes for me."

Keima couldn't help but smile when he saw actual surprise on Tenri's face.

"Kanon-chan bought you clothes?" she asked.

"It was just a pair of pants and a shirt," Keima said, "and a few T-shirts," he added after a moment.

"Any of those shirts were interesting?"

"Interesting how?"

"I don't know," Tenri mused, "like having a funny or embarrassing caption..."

"There weren't," Keima said with a poker face and changing the topic, "though one of those was a blue one with a big sun on the back and 'Summer Boy' caption in front... Anyway, after that there was dinner."

"A classy restaurant Kanon-chan has booked beforehand?" Tenri asked.

"Not exactly..."

(* * *)

"WcDonalds?" Keima asked when they arrived at the building.

"Yes," Kanon said.

"Why?" Keima said as they entered the place with Okada following shortly behind them.

"It has been a while since I've eaten in a place like this," Kanon said, her brow furrowing a little, "would you like to go somewhere else?"

"You're talking to a guy who could live off soy milk and raindrops, remember?" he reminded here. "Fast food is no problem."

"Good, 'cause I'm in a mood for fast food," Kanon said and Keima could sense Okada sighing from a few tables away. Kanon would probably have to run between venues to use up all of the calories she was about to consume.

It was already late afternoon, so there wasn't very many customers and soon the two teens were seated by their table with their orders littering the tabletop. Keima had to admit – he didn't expect he'd ever see Kanon Nakagawa dig into a BigWac and with such enthusiasm.

"You sure were hungry," Keima said some time later as Kanon was already done with her food and he didn't fail to notice her giving his French fries a passing glance.

"Here," he said, pushing his plate more towards her.

"Can I?" Kanon asked.

"Sure, help yourself," Keima said.

Kanon smiled after a moment and took one of Keima's fries and ate it, a happy look on her face.

"You seem in a really good mood," he noticed.

"Of course," Kanon said.

"I didn't think fast food eaten in a public place like this would be this fun for you," Keima admitted, "wouldn't you rather go somewhere more quiet and..."

"Nicer looking?" Kanon finished, looking over the decor and furniture that wasn't exactly new and sparkling, "not really."

"Why?" he asked.

"It's not really complicated," she said, "I told you I rarely get to do this."

"And here I thought you used to eat lunches half-asleep in a car between venues," he reminded her.

"And normal people don't do that, right?" Kanon said. "Just like normal people eat at places like this more."

"You mean you're happy because you got to have a normal day instead of doing your idol job?" he asked.

"Don't get me wrong, I love being an idol, it's like my calling of sorts now... but I do miss this sometimes," Kanon said, pointing to them and the table, "to be able to go out with a boy I like and do things people do everyday in public places like this."

"So it's a bit like 'a special person wants to be normal' flag," Keima said, "you and Chihiro should swap places for a day sometimes," he added as Kanon giggled.

"Though aren't you feeling worried?" he asked.

"Why?"

"You were attacked in a public place not so long ago," Keima reminded her, "aren't you worried at all?"

"Well, I think I am a bit anxious," Kanon said softly before looking up with a more cheerful expression, "but I don't really fear in any danger right now. In fact, I feel safe."

"So you have that much faith in your manager, Apollo and your other guardians keeping eye on you from the shadows?" Keima asked with a small smile.

"No, I mean yes, but it's not just faith in them," Kanon said, "it's also faith in you, Keima-kun."

"...me?" the boy in question asked, his brows raised.

Kanon nodded. "I know Keima-kun cares about me and would do everything to keep me safe," she said.

"W-what could I possibl-"

"I know Keima-kun is strong," Kanon said, "and don't give me that 'I'm not strong, I was never in a fight' line. I know you're strong in ways most of us never will be. That's why I trust Keima-kun. Whether it's saving me from the stress or my doubts. From myself or people who tried to kill me, Keima-kun was always there for me. That's why when I'm with Keima-kun I always feel safe."

Keima fought bravely, but despite that his face slowly turned crimson red as he gazed away. He didn't have to look at Kanon to know that she was sporting a triumphant smile.

(* * *)

"Kanon-chan's is really something if she made Keima-kun blush," Tenri said in thought and awe.

"She didn't make me blush!" Keima exclaimed in anger. "That's not what I said!"

"I know," Tenri said, "but that's exactly what happened, right, Keima-kun?"

"Anyway," Keima ignored the question, "we went for a walk..."

(* * *)

"It's okay if you play games, you know?" Kanon said on hour later when the two of them were sitting on one of the benches in the Maijima night public park for a walk. Despite the name it was a nice place even during day time and Kanon had chosen it as the next point on their date, hoping to be able to see the sun set, as it was slowly nearing the horizon.

"Your manager would hurt me for that," Keima answered her, "besides, I didn't take my console with me today."

"Really?" Kanon said, surprise in her voice.

"Really," the gamer confirmed, "it's not like you'd want to watch me play games during a date, do you?"

"Actually," Kanon squirmed a bit in her seat, "I wanted to talk with you about something concerning dating sims."

A moment of silence.

"Say that again," Keima spoke.

"I want to talk with you about galges," Kanon reiterated, "I'm interested in the music specifically."

"Ooh..." Keima deflated a bit, "for a moment I thought you wanted to make games or something."

"Something like that."

More silence.

"Please explain," Keima said, confusion in his eyes.

"It's just that when I listen to Keima-kun speak about his games I can feel the love," Kanon said calmly, "it's very similar to when I sing."

"Okay, what does that have to do with making games?" the boy asked.

"The galge industry is booming right now," the idol said, "so many young people are players. I want to reach them too. I want to make them happy."

"Isn't singing and dancing your thing though?"

"Well, yes, but games also have music, right?"

"You made songs and voice acting for a galge before," Keima noticed.

"It's different," Kanon shook her head, "you see... I don't want to just use my voice for some general heroine and my music for some background event. No, I want more."

"More?"

"Yes... I want to take part in making a game where I can affect the setting and the script... you see Keima-kun..." the pink-haired girl said as she stood up and walked a few steps away from Keima-kun, looking at the sun that has just touched the horizon, "I remember your thoughts about what makes a good game."

Keima just listened.

"You asked if it was really okay to treat a game with 100 points in music and 30 points in script as a great game," she repeated his words for just before he had been sent on the journey to the past, "well, I'm not sure I can answer that one... however..."

At this Kanon turned to him, the shine of the setting sun and the orange sky making her stand out even more in the green scenery, somewhat reminding him of the one time she sung a song when babysitting his 7 year old self.

"I want to prove that galges with music can also be great games that can bring people happiness. I want to make a game where music and songs are key part of the setting and gameplay, but where the storyline is good as well."

"There are games like that," Keima said slowly, not sure why he was saying this.

"Any good ones?" the idol asked, not a bit of worry on her face.

"A few," the gamer said, "two really good and-"

"And the God of Conquest doesn't see any chances to improve? Think about it," Kanon asked, slowly approaching him, "with my music, team and investments, your knowledge of the dating sims and with some of the developers you know... and most importantly with the love we both have for games and music... think what a game we could make," she extended her hand to him in an obvious offer, "will you join me in this endeavor, Keima-kun?"

This is a flag, Keima thought. With and undertaking such as galge design, it would require a lot of effort and time. Especially time. Time him and Kanon would spend together.

"What about our schoolwork?" he asked, once again not sure why, especially since Kanon response confirmed the obvious.

"I'm sure you will be able to make it work, Keima-kun."

Keima wasn't sure what gave Kanon that confidence. He didn't know how to explain it. He couldn't find the answer in her melodic voice. He couldn't find it in the sparkle in her eyes. He couldn't find it in her face outlined by the sinking sun.

And he couldn't find it in the way her hand felt when his reached to clasp hers.

 **(* * *)**

 **There you have it. So this chapter was basically about Keima and Kanon's first official date. Also Tenri practicing unfinished magic tricks on Keima. Also Kanon meeting Mari. Also WcDonalds. And game design. I wonder who had foreseen that? :P  
**

 **I don't have much to comment on this, but at least we have a chapter that actually focuses on Kanon, instead of me writing too much about Tenri or Ayumi. Moreover, while it's kinda subtle and Keima is pretty much still Keima, I do thing it's become more noticeable that our little couple has quite the good mood going on. Who knows, maybe Keima will confess before they finish university. :P**

 **As I said, the next chapter is almost finished, so it should be posted around 10 or 12 of November. I hope you'll like it.**

 **Below are the replies to the latest reviews:**

 **L2X:** Thank you very much :). I also like that side of Kanon, as surprising as it is. And yeah, I'm pretty sure Keima will... eventually. :P

 **Ghost Man:** Yes, Ayumi to the rescue! And all for 4th wall breaking... or zapping it to smithereens :P. Chihiro should start a poetry literature club and compose some haikus :D. Whoa... yan/tsun girlfriend... sounds like both Hell and high water... you have it tough. Also, thank you for keeping track of my typos and such, I appreciate it. And yay for Toaru majutsu no index references! Many thanks for the review! **  
**

 **Big Bad Beowolf:** Well, I do listen, but whether I'd actually be able and willing to do some stuff is another matter altogether. Anyway, I'm glad I could make you happy :). Also glad people didn't expect Yui... she's almost like a Spanish inquisition :D. Also I very much love the Light Novels girls, just so you know. I regret I didn't read the novels before starting this series.

 **ZelgadisGW:** Thank you for the previous review. I agree the kidnapping scene wasn't my magnum opus, but sometime it happens. Glad I could write Chihiro scenes you liked :). Lol, I like the "I fried all your gaming consoles" even though it's scary as Old Hell. So Yui surprised everyone, huh? :)

 **El Sasori69:** I'm starting to think of a way to "believably" introduce Asami, Tōru, Shino and Aoba into this story. I have one first sign of a start of a begin of initial introduction to an idea, but whether I'd be able to execute it and when, I don't know. Believe me I'd want to. As for Kanon and yui facing off, I agree it was very interesting, but as to how aggressive will Yui be and how Kanon will continue to react... I don't really know yet. Anyway, thanks for the review. :)

 **Sir Sleeps-a-lot:** Thank you very much for your review. They're always great to see. Thank you for your good words and support as well. Heh, you're yet another person who sees "Kanon stakes her claim on Keima" in this chapter and I don't disagree :). But yes, Keima is very much still unsure about how he is actually feeling about this. I guess he needs more time. As for Yui, yeah, we'll see. Heh I'm not sure about the date going into the night, but it'll go well into the evening, I guess :P. Lol, I think I'll have to have a word with Kanon on how she's treating my precious reviewers ;). *blushes at you reading the chapter 4 times*. And yeah, I'll remember abut music references. :)

 **That's it for the responses for the reviews and for this chapter.**

 **I'll see you next time!**


	13. Flag 76: Summer-colored surprise

**Hello, everyone!**

 **I'm back yet again with another chapter! So far there are only thirteen chapters of KanonNomi, though we progressed a fair bit. On the other hand, the word count on this story has went over 100k since the last chapter, so we're slowly getting close to the word count of AyumiNomi (129k)... but we're still far from MioNomi word counr (191k).**

 **I guess I'm more worried about the frequency of chapter updates. Especially since I do have a few other KamiNomi fic projects I'd like to work in the meantime.**

 **Anyway, we're obviously not at the end of KanonNomi just yet, but we might be closer than we think. Who knows.**

 **Since I'm not really late this time and I moved the responses to the reviews to the ending author's notes, there' not really much to say this time, aside from that I hope you'll like this chapter. It's... interesting.**

 **But anyway, enough with that (pretty short by my standards) author's note. Onto the chapter!**

 **Enjoy!**

 **(* * *)**

Keima heard a gasp and looked up from his desk to see Ayumi looking at him with a shocked expression on her face and her hand near her mouth as if covering it.

It was lunch break and the majority of the 3-B students were out, probably pushing each other in the line to the Demeter bread stand, so the classroom was next to empty. Keima raised his eyebrow at Ayumi.

"What?" he questioned.

"Are you feeling unwell?" Ayumi asked.

He stared blankly at her. "And why would you think that?"

"Well... you're kinda... studying in class," Ayumi said, pointing to all the stuff on his desk, which was littered with torn pages, all covered with his messy handwriting.

He could understand why she'd be confused.

"I'm not studying," he said, before looking around to see why Chihiro, Miyako or Eri hadn't commented on it, but he didn't see any of them them, "where are the others?"

"Still at the bread stand," Ayumi told him, showing the sandwich in her hands, "I rushed there to be the first in line and got right back as fast as I could!"

"Why?"

"Well, hello, I'm supposed to be protecting you, remember?" the runner gave him how-could-you-forget-already look. "Well, there have been much less bullies lately, but still... anyway, what's all of this?" she gestured to his desk.

"I'm researching," Keima said.

"Researching what?" Ayumi said, tilting her head and scrunching her forehead. Keima knew reading and studying weren't the runner's strong suit, so he could understand the forehead thing. However, he still couldn't get used to the general idea of Ayumi or Chihiro not only not kicking him or calling him names, but talking to him and, as slight as it was, being interested in what he was doing, without calling him gross in the process.

Well, let's see how long that 'without calling him gross' thing would last since he was apparently having a longer conversation now.

"I'm researching galge," he said. There was a moment of silence and then, as expected, Ayumi let out exasperated sigh.

"Why?" she asked. "Did, like, some blue-haired rival appeared, competing for your title of the dating sims master and you felt you need to up your... game?" Ayumi chuckled at her own pun.

"Why blue-haired?" Keima asked.

"I don't know," Ayumi shrugged, "I just had this strange mental image for some reason.. and what's this?" she pointed to some other notes. "These look like studying notes."

"Those are for Kanon," Keima said, though technically the gaming notes were for Kanon's sake as well.

"You're helping her study?" Ayumi asked.

"Yes... that's one-I mean the only perk to being my girlfriend," Keima said.

"Totally," Ayumi rolled her eyes, "because the only reason Kanon-chan asked you out is to better her grades."

At this moment Chihiro, Miyako, Eri and, what's worse, Yui entered the classroom. Though on the bright side, the drummer's presence made enough commotion that no-one else asked about what he was doing. That was a good thing, because while Kanon hadn't directly forbidden him from saying anything, he had a feeling she wanted to keep that game-making thing a secret for now.

(* * *)

After the classes had ended, Keima left the school. Fortunately, 2-B pencils had practice today, so Eri wasn't here. Keima did encounter Minami Ikoma on his way out, however, and spent some time talking to her, before he finally managed to leave school grounds. Keima stopped by his home to grab a bigger backpack and headed for the railway station, before catching a train to Narusawa City. The car he was riding in was rather empty, but still...

"Hey, isn't that guy, Kanon-chan's boyfriend?"

"No way!"

"Quiet or he'll hear us!"

'I can hear you, you know?' Keima thought as he played his games. He had to admit he was a bit surprised. School was one thing, but how did the rest of the town learn the identity of Kanon's boyfriend.. or how he looked? Were students at school taking photos of him inconspicuously and posting them online or something? Well, he didn't mind whispers as long as it didn't interfere with his gaming, but if his experience was anything to go by, then whispers won't be the only thing. In moments like these he felt he was actually grateful abut the devils protecting him.

After a while Keima got off the bus and ten minutes later he was walking through a corridor and passing various people and rooms, before finally entering the room that was his destination.

"Hello, Keima-kun!" Kanon waved at him from inside. She was wearing rather plain-looking blue overalls and glasses instead of stage clothes. Not that he complained or cared.

"Hey, Kanon... and good day," the last part was directed at the last person in the room: Okada.

"Good day, Katsuragi-san," the manager said, before pushing up her glasses, "now let us not waste any time and get to it," she said all business-like.

Apparently, Okada wanted to make sure that both teens realized it was working time, not flirting time now. Keima could understand it too – he could bet his M-funds that Kanon's schedule was tight as ever.

"Alright," Keima said.

Even Kanon, who knew what kind of person Keima was and had memories of some of his life, sweatdropped a bit when she saw what Keima was pulling out of his bag, but Okada, who was new to this, watched in shock at the mountain of paper that had appeared.

"What the hell is this!?" the older woman asked.

"Research on galge, with emphasis on music-themed ones. And here," he brought a smaller stack of paper out of his backpack, "are the studying notes."

"T-thank you, Keima-kun," Kanon said, though her expression was unsure, "but you didn't have to go that far... I'm pretty sure half of these notes would let me get 70% if I memorized them."

"Impossible!" Okada said. "Kanon, you cannot get good grades by memorizing some notes!"

"But I did get 100% on that one test back when Keima-kun was tutoring me," Kanon argued, making Okada stop in shock again.

"This guy," the manager pointed to Keima, "was the one who tutored you for that test?"

Kanon nodded.

"We're wasting time here," Keima said and turned to Kanon. "Did you prepare the stuff I asked for?" Kanon nodded. "Good, then let's get started."

(* * *)

What followed was kinda similar to what Okada had been expecting... except for the scale of the entire thing.

Kanon had prepared a flip chart board and soon Keima was using it, explaining what he called the essentials of a galge, quickly covering several charts. Okada didn't exactly follow the lecture. It sounded like nonsense to her and Keima's voice was suddenly holier-than-thou, which made the older woman's eyebrow twitch. Kanon, however, was listening with bated breath, though Okada was under the impression that the idol was following only because she was used to a fast-paced life.

The 'galge 101' lecture didn't take very long and Keima was done after 20 minutes. However, after that he asked if Kanon had any questions... and then it started. Kanon apparently had trouble understanding the way galges were viewed and, more importantly, how Keima viewed them. Actually, Okada was pretty sure she could detect jealousy in the idol's voice. Keima tried to be calm and patient, but he was practically oozing passion and apparently didn't want to use any shortcuts or simplify what he saw great about his games. It dawned on Okada that Keima didn't just want to help Kanon here. He wanted to make a masterpiece. That in itself wasn't the worst. The worst happened when Kanon drew him into discussion about the music and its role in the game plot and mechanics. The ideas the idol suggested all had flaws and Keima shot all of those ideas down, but what the gamer apparently hadn't expected was Kanon not backing down. Instead the idol put her foot down, saying she _shall_ have it in the game.

Okada had never seen Katsuragi being so passionate...

Okada had never seen Kanon being so stubborn...

Actually, Okada realized as she was looking at both teens almost glaring at each other, this was the first time the manager witnessed Kanon and Keima fighting.

Well, kind of...

Thus, it was another 40 minutes before Keima managed to go into the details of how and _why_ some mechanics worked and pointed out that they should start from the basics – how many heroines were there supposed to be in the game, what was the setting and such. Then for the next half an hour the two had managed to make a few drafts though Keima firmly said that neither of those would work.

"You know that what we choose to do is not up to you, Katsuragi-kun?" Okada noticed, getting a glare from Keima and a pleading look from Kanon.

"Can we move onto the next point?" Kanon asked.

"Alright," Keima said, "the next is the game title."

Kanon blinked. "The title? Isn't it too early for that?" she asked. "We don't even have a working setting yet."

"That's true, but we do have setting drafts," Keima pointed to the few scenarios scattered among the notes and crumpled sheets of paper, "in that case it's perfectly fine to have drafts of the title as well. We can brainstorm them for now. Maybe if we have a good idea then it could help to figure out the setting."

"I guess you have a point," Kanon said and the two started to make suggestions, using the help of the list of existing titles Keima had.

"Excuse me, can I make a suggestion?" Okada said a minute later surprising both of them. It would be the first time the manager were to make any actual input and neither teen expected it.

"I don't know how this entire gaming business works," Okada admitted, "but the point of this endeavor is to promote Kanon and her songs."

"Galges are more than that," Keima said, "but that's part of it."

"Then I say we look at it more from the marketing point of view," the manager said, "how long will the game production take?"

"Hard to say," Keima answered, "if we use the summer vacation correctly and come up with scenario and dialogue quickly enough, then the gaming company should be able to provide the art and the finished product before the end of the year."

"I see," Okada said, before turning to the idol, "Kanon, what about that song that's being composed, right now?"

"You mean 'Surprise-colored Summer'?" Kanon raised her eyebrow.

"Yes, the plan is to release that song at the beginning of summer, right? In that case," Okada pushed up her glasses, giving off a very Keima-like vibe, "let's postpone the release of that song for a few weeks."

"Why?" Kanon asked.

"Wait, you mean to-" Keima started.

"Yes... the game is supposed to have Kanon's songs anyway, so it'd be logical to use the songs as part of the game promotion a few months before the game is released... then why not name the game after the song that will be promoting it?"

"So you want to name the game 'Surprise-colored Summer' after the song that isn't even made yet?" Keima asked.

"What's so wrong about it?" Okada shrugged. "Summer is a great chance for a romance, isn't it? Surprise could work with the scenario and colors works were with the main heroine, right?" the manager indicated to Kanon's hair.

Keima was about to say something, but Okada stopped him. "For god's sake! It's not like it has to be just one game! If it works well we can make another or a sequel, so the first one doesn't have to be a masterpiece, right?"

Keima's gaze was hard.

"Fine," he said finally, writing the suggestion down, "though that'd require making the song and setting on game scenarios relatively quickly. Anyway, let's move onto-"

"Time!" Kanon said suddenly, leaning on the table as if she had just ran a mile, her hands making a 'T' sign. "I can't keep going so fast for so long. I need a break!"

"Good idea, especially since Kanon has more things to do today," Okada said, looking at Keima, " _you_ understand that best, right, Katsuragi-kun?"

Obviously, the dark-haired woman was alluding to the first time she had met Keima, when the boy had accused her of poor managerial skills and of having Kanon work too much.

"Of course," Keima said with indignation, but Kanon knew he did get carried away with this game design thing, doing the same thing Okada had done before.

'Those two are really similar', Kanon thought.

"Anyway, we're taking a break for fifteen minutes," Okada said as she stood up, "I'm going to the toilet."

If Keima thought that the older woman leaving meant a time to relax he was proven wrong the moment he heard a chair being placed next to his.

"Keima-kun!" Kanon said in glee as she flung her hands over Keima and clung to him, suddenly looking energized.

"You didn't need a break at all!" Keima cried out.

"I did... it's just that Keima-kun is my battery charger!" the idol said. "That means I can't live without you."

"You sure charge your batteries fast!" he commented, trying to distract himself from the way she was snuggling to him. Oh god, she was snuggling to him! "And I sure hope your batteries can last a week without charging!"

"That's why we shouldn't waste time!" Kanon said as she leaned closer to him, Keima could see her pink eyes, while pink hair obscured his vision, the idol's pink tongue moistening her pink slightly parted lips. Even her face was pink – the blood in Kanon's cheeks gave it an appealing shade of red.

(* * *)

"Your manager will be back soon," Keima said when he could think and move again as Kanon moved back and leaned on his chest instead.

"She won't," Kanon said back and he could feel her breath on his neck.

"Yes, she will!" he said, his voice a little more exasperated and commanding, at least he hoped so. "She only went to the toilet!"

"She knows to give us some alone time," Kanon muttered lazily, her skin and hair brushing his neck.

Keima briefly wondered if Kanon should change her surname to Goidō, 'cause the way he was feeling now was similar to the effect Yui had on him.

"I can't believe you're doing this during work," he said, "and I thought you were a hard-working and responsible role model!"

"Not falling for that," Kanon said, before looking up at him, "besides weren't you the one who told me I needed to work less?"

"Yes, but this is going from one extremity to the other!"

"Am I too forward?" Kanon asked, looking uncertain. "Are you... feeling uncomfortable, Keima-kun? Am I doing... this wrong?"

"I'm pretty sure everyone in my place would be delighted to-"

"I'm asking for your opinion, Keima-kun," she interrupted softly.

"It's fine, it certainly would take some time to get used to," he said.

"Do you have the same feeling you get from your games?" Kanon asked, her expression darkening a bit.

This made Keima cringe a bit. He could stay quiet and pretend to like it, but it wasn't him and Tenri had specifically told him to not force anything, so while it hurt him to know this might sadden her, he opted for honesty.

"Not really, but that's not very surprising, right? I think you are doing really good," he added. The genuine comment made the pink-haired girl blush a bit.

"I-I could try to experiment, see what you'd like more," Kanon said, eyes involuntarily darting to his lips. Well, at least he knew she really liked them.

"Yes, but we can try that when we're not working!" he hissed.

Kanon groaned before her gaze sharpened. "Saturday, 10 o'clock," she said, "my apartment."

"Your apartment?" Keima echoed. Weren't this going a bit _too_ fast?

"Is something the matter?" Kanon asked, clearly challenging him.

"I'll have to look into my schedule and see if I'm not seeing another girl at the time," Keima said, "or a dozen."

"Give me the names and I'll fix your schedule," Kanon answered with a smile on her lips and a glint in her eye.

Yup, so there goes his Saturday.

(* * *)

A small movement brought Keima's attention from the game he was playing with one hand to the girl that was snuggling with him, his other hand that was softly stroking her hair stopped. He was currently in Kanon Nakagawa's apartment, with said girl lying in a bed with him. From outside this looked like a very suggestive predicament, but wasn't really. Aside from a few – several a fews to be accurate – kisses and some cuddling it was fairly innocent and the last eighty minutes Keima had all the time to watch. Of course he was mainly watching the screen of his console or Kanon herself, but he also made sure to notice all the details in the idol's room, from her teddy bears collection and her pet turtle's place to the pink color that seemed to permeate the room.

Pale pink walls. Pink bed sheets. Even the pink carpet matched the curtains.

"You woke up," he noticed.

"I fell asleep?" Kanon asked. "How long was I out?"

"Almost hour and half," he said which earned a groan from Kanon.

"Great, I had to be awake nineteen hours a day this week and I had to fall asleep now," she scoffed, "such a waste..."

"I wouldn't call it a waste," Keima said.

He sensed Kanon move as her head left his stomach and chest and laid on her second pillow.

The "game design" meeting ended with moderate success and, as promised, Keima had arrived at the idol's apartment at 10 A.M. on Saturday. As it turned out, he arrived over 30 minutes before Kanon herself arrived. And, as promised, Kanon went on to "experiment" on what kinds of activities Keima liked. Talking wasn't bad, but it was obvious Kanon was looking for the activities involving more contact. While the experiment went relatively well, it was also embarrassing. Keima very much dreaded what he would hear next time he would see Haqua, Rimyuel or, Heavens forbid, Nora.

As expected however, Kanon could take only as much and soon she was back to "recharging her batteries". Keima didn't oppose. No matter what he felt, he understood that Kanon yearned for his attention and closeness. He only made sure Kanon wasn't going too fast, but that hardly required him to do anything – Kanon was keeping herself in check well enough... most of the time. Soon she had fallen asleep on his chest.

"You know," the idol's voice brought him back from his musings, "I've been thinking..."

Well, at least Keima wasn't hugging Apollo.

"Yes?" he prodded.

"The schoolwork," Kanon started, "it's more troublesome than I thought it'd be this year... also the schedule for the game is tight... and I have to go in fifty minutes," she added as she glanced at the nearby clock.

"And?" he asked, awaiting some conclusions.

"I need more," Kanon said.

"More what?"

"More time with you," the idol said.

"Then quit being an idol," Keima suggested.

"You know full well I won't," she told him, her gaze showing him she knew he was testing her.

"Good," he said, "what else can you do though?"

"I need to waste less time sleeping..." Kanon said slowly. "And I need to work less."

"Great diagnosis," Keima said, "but I was asking for a cure."

"I think I might have an idea... but you won't like it..."

"What is it?" Keima asked.

"We'll talk about it some other time," Kanon said, "for now let me think about it..."

(* * *)

That 'some other time' came soon enough and as Kanon had foreseen, he didn't like it.

"I'd love to!"

"Absolutely not!"

It was Monday now and the three of them were in Keima's room. Keima was sitting on his chair, while both girls were sitting on his bed.

"Why not?" Kanon asked, though she wasn't exactly surprised by Keima's refusal.

"Your plan to get more free time is to have my sister," Keima pointed to Eri, "substitute for you on regular basis?"

"Not on regular basis," Kanon said, "but I suppose you'd be worried about her."

"Of course, I would," Keima admitted, "what if you were to be targeted again?"

"Nii-sama," Eri said slowly and patiently, as if talking to a five year old, "both you and Kanon-chan are guarded. When me and Kanon-chan substitute then she's going to be with you, so we both will be guarded just as before," she said, "besides, if it's the devils who'll try to attack then they wouldn't be fooled by illusions or disguises, so I'm not likely to be attacked."

"See?" Kanon asked, before her tone turned pleading. "Please agree, Keima-kun! With this we could get several hours a week!"

"I can't believe _you_ came up with _this_!" Keima said. "I mean what about your fans?"

Kanon blinked. "What do you mean?"

"Don't you think it's a little unfair to them?" the gamer said. "I mean they come to see and hear you, so won't you feel guilty that your fans think it's you on the stage while it's actually Eri?"

"Ooh..." Kanon exclaimed in understanding, "I get your point, but I think you misunderstood Keima-kun. I don't plan for Eri to substitute for me during concerts, interviews or book signings."

"Then when?" Keima asked quizzically.

"I mean she could substitute for me during gravures, photo shoots, filming commercials. Generally, things for advertisement and sponsors that don't involve my fans at all."

"I'd gladly help you, Kanon-chan!" Eri said enthusiastically.

"We know, but you have your own things like club and schoolwork", Keima said, "the last one is something you're not even remotely as good as Kanon."

"Pleeeaaseee..." Eri pleaded with doe eyes and Kanon joined her. Keima groaned.

"Fineee," he said in defeat, before looking at Eri with sharp eyes, "but I'm getting someone to tutor you. Probably Urara or Kusunoki."

"Why Kusunoki-san though?" Eri asked.

"Because she can bring you to order when you're lazy," Keima said.

It was Eri's turn to groan now, but Kanon smiled. It seems her plan was accepted. Next would be actually set it in motion.

(* * *)

"Feelings are like rain rain.. endless rain rain", Eri Katsuragi hummed as she was heading for the Narusawa TV.

On first sight it would be nothing unusual. After all, anyone who knows the female Katsuragi sibling when asked about her singing Kanon Nakagawa's song would respond with 'that's normal'. However, today was a little bit different. Eri wasn't singing because she was in a good mood (though she was!) or because she liked that particular song (though she did!). The reason was much more pragmatic – the dark haired girl was exercising her voice, trying her best for it to imitate Kanon-chan's as much as possible.

And the reason for that was because today was another day when Eri was supposed to substitute for Kanon-chan for a few hours.

They had been doing it for some time now, though it wasn't a common thing. During the last several weeks it had happened barely once per week or so. Eri was happy though. Not only did she get to feel like Kanon-chan again, but they were short episodes, so she didn't have to experience the drawback that was the idol's hectic lifestyle. Moreover, by doing this she was helping Kanon-chan and she was helping nii-sama.

And most importantly – she was helping both of them at the same time.

Eri giggled, once she got over being angry at her brother, it had become quite interesting. The other day Kanon-chan had visited the Katsuragi household. Between Keima's father being shocked, Mari being a step away from turning into a jelly at how cute and great Kanon was, Eri trying to pick her own jelly form from the floor and Keima trying to control the chaos it was a pretty memorable event to say the least.

Less amusing, but just as chaotic was that one time when Kanon-chan came to school and had a music match against Yui-san, both girls taking it more seriously than necessary.

Such events were rare, however, as Kanon schedule was tight as usual and she and nii-sama rarely saw each other. And apparently, nii-sama was helping Kanon with something and neither of them wanted to tell Eri what it was. Though when the fire-truck lover consulted Chihiro-san and Ayumi-san, the band leader responded with something along the lines 'I'm sure Kanon-chan is very happy when Katsuragi is _helping_ her'. Eri didn't really understand it, but from Chihiro's tone and Ayumi's astounded expression and colored cheeks there was definitely more going on than Eri understood.

Chihiro-san even commented that 'Katsuragi sure has it good', but Eri wasn't so sure. Yes, Kanon-chan was cute, pretty, lovely, adorable and perfect, but nii-sama was, well... nii-sama. As much as Eri was happy he was dating Kanon-chan, she knew her brother well enough to realize that a real girl couldn't just sway him like that, so the relationship was apparently much less... spectacular than people like okaa-san or Chihiro-san thought.

On the other hand, the school had more or less got used to the notion of 'Kanon-chan dating the otamega' and the whispers and bullying behavior pretty much ceased entirely (aside from Yui-san of course). Though even with that being said there was still something amiss. Eri couldn't put her finger on it though.

Still, it was not the time to think about it. After all, things have changed recently. Not only the summer was around for some time, but the summer vacation started, meaning no school. Suddenly people had a lot of time to meet, go to swimming pools, practice and laze about. Apparently they were also supposed to be studying, but said activity could be compared to Kappa right now – everyone heard of it, but no-one had ever seen it.

Well... Eri _had_ seen it a few _dozen_ years before, but it didn't matter.

What did matter was that nii-sama had more time now and Kanon-chan really wanted to be able to meet with him more. Thus, as soon as summer vacation started, Eri began to substitute for Kanon more often. She didn't mind though. After all, if Kanon-chan became her sister-in-law someday it'd be like a dream come true...

Especially since the substituting thing wasn't difficult now. Kanon and Eri had already found out a good way to go about this. Eri would go to wherever venue Kanon was at and meet with her. Since she had a free pass and was already well-known, no-one stopped her and no-one was surprised to see her. Of course, Kanon's staff was puzzled why that little dark-haired teen out of all of Kanon's fans had such a privilege, but they accepted it nonetheless.

So, Kanon and Eri would meet and Apollo would cast two illusions, making the girls swap places – Eri (or rather Ernon) would stay and act as a professional idol and Kanon (or Kari) would leave the building, her excitement to meet with Keima nicely imitating the way Eri acted after meeting her favorite pink-haired singer.

(* * *)

Today it was no different. Kanon and Eri swapped places and the idol was able to spend another date with Keima, which consisted of bowling, karaoke and a trip to the park. Kanon would never think being swung on the park swings by Keima would be this fun. Seriously, being able to spend time with the person she liked was making her very happy. She could also tell that Keima was being somewhat affected by her displays of feelings and affection. On the other hand, he definitely wasn't feeling about her nearly as strong as she was... oh, well, it was still a progress.

Kanon had just gotten back from her escapade and walked through the corridors of the Narusawa TV building. Soon she reached her changing room, where Eri should be. In fact, she _heard_ the room earlier then she saw the door.

"Kanon! One hundred percent! Solar revolution!" was coming from the other side of the door and for the life of her Kanon couldn't figure out if it was Eri singing or was she just playing the music out loud.

Kanon knocked on the door hard enough for Eri to hear.

"Kanon-chan?" she said loudly, trying to imitate Eri's voice. Being a singer and amateur voice actor Kanon was able to change her voice, but it was still difficult. She wondered how Eri could do it so well in the first place.

A few seconds later the door opened and her own face popped out making the idol feel even weirder than looking at any mirrors. Even when Apollo was in them.

"Eri!" the female Katsuragi said, letting the idol in into her own changing room. "Come in!"

As soon as the door were closed, both girls sighed in relief.

"Kanon-chan!" Eri exclaimed as she practically jumped at Kanon, though on the outside it seemed that it was Kanon who jumped on Eri.

Kanon did notice that over the past weeks the female Katsuragi sibling had become much more... physical when it came to contact with her.

"Yes, I missed you too, Eri," the idol said as she hugged the dark-haired (well, pink-haired at the moment) girl, before looking at the phone which was generating the music.

"You shouldn't really do that," Kanon said, pointing at Eri's phone.

"Eeh?" the former devil said. "But the phone is charging, so it should be fine."

"But someone could see it as weird," Kanon explained.

"Ohh... in that case it's fine," Eri said happily, "manager-san went on a break and no-one will be here for at least ten minutes!"

"Umm... gals," a third voice resounded weirdly as if coming from another room and after a small flash of light Apollo materialized in a full length mirror Kanon used to check her appearance.

"I know you have a lot of music to listen to and a lot to talk and fangirl about," the ditsy goddess exclaimed, trying to shout over the music, "but keeping up two spells like that for hours isn't the easiest thing to do, so maybe we should deal with it first."

"Geez, Apollo, it's not like you have to ask for that. You can undo the spell as soon as we're alone," Kanon said, "but yeah, let's switch before Okada-san is back."

"Alrighty," Apollo said and there was a series of smaller sparkles around Kanon and Eri as both illusions were released. Eri's appearance shortened by a few centimeters, while Kanon' seemed to grow by the same height. The long dark hair on Kanon's back shortened and turned pink, while Eri's at the same time sprouted downwards, darkening immediately.

"Here," Eri handed Kanon back her glasses and both girls started to undress to swap clothes, because Apollo insisted it would be much easier if the clothes stayed real. Besides, Kanon was very adapt at changing her clothes quickly and Eri was no slouch either.

"Seriously, I can't thank you enough for this, Eri," Kanon said as she took her shirt off, "you're a lifesaver."

Curiously, she got no response. Not even an embarrassed giggle. She turned to Eri in surprise and saw the other girl standing stiff, a look between shocked and scared evident on her features, her gaze fixed behind Kanon. The idol slowly turned around, cold sweat running down her brow, facing the door. The door that were wide open now, somehow neither teen hearing them open because of the music.

And in the doorway, her eyes wide and mouth agape, there was Mrs. Nakagawa.

 _Oh crap..._

(* * *)

 ***gasp* Kanon's mom (who's for some reason at Narusawa TV right now) saw Kanon and Eri! o.O  
**

 **How much did she see? Well... judging from her facial expression she saw... something :P. As for how much... you'll have to see the next chapter to learn that :P.  
**

 **But yeah, this (and what follows after that) is something I had planned for a long time, though it didn't come out exactly as I first planned it. Well, we'll see.**

 **As for the other things, we have another non-Kanon (non-canon?) girl in this chapter, but at least there's much more Kanon in the chapter this time...**

 **...actually there's a lot of Kanon–Keima interactions here as well. It seems our pink-haired gal is getting... bold. She even invited Keima to her apartment!**

 **But yeah, I tried to make the details fuzzy, but as rare as they meet, Kanon's lips are certainly getting used to Keima's :P.**

 **And there's also the game making thing, during which Kanon and Keima butted heads. This is actually the first time they argue as boyfriend and girlfriend. This kinda made me think, 'cause I didn't really try to make them do that before, especially as Kanon is happy to spend even a minute with Keima. So aside from Kanon not having time, Keima being bullied and not really being into real girls, their relationship was rather obstacle-free, albeit slow...**

 **...I wonder if this is ok. I tend to portray things a little too smooth-going, so I wonder if I should just leave the couple argument-free and just have them fight other obstacles... or should they actually have a fight at some point.**

 **Any opinions on that would be appreciated. :)**

 **As always I want to thank you for reading, favoriting, following and reviewing my story! Here are the responses for the latest reviews:**

 **ZelgadisGW:** I'm not sure if this will be a separate arc, more like plot thread mixed with the other ones. About Keima falling for Kanon and being in her clutches... who knows? xD Yes, Kanon that appreciates Keima is better than yanderish Kanon. Yes, probably Hinoki did something Hinokish again ;). Heh, you're right. Other schools don't know about Keima, but I bet some jealous guys said something bad and Nanaka was all "I'll show ya!" xD. Lol, is Tenri and Diana a salty duo? And yes, cinema advertisements is the biggest plothole! Thank you for the review. :)

 **Ghost Man:** It seems Tenri is becoming smarter and more sneaky by the chapter :P. However, we differ with thoughts on Mari – I wouldn't date that :P. And Kanon is a good player too :). *sigh* I try, but it appears there are still some typos and errors here and there. I hope there are less mistakes in this chapter.

 **Rt16:** On one hand I agree, but going slow is kinda logical in Kanon's case... on the other hand... I don't think it's going that slow, considering this chapter. Anyway, thank you for your opinion. :) **  
**

 **Guest:** Yes, no-one expected a Spanish Inquisition! xD Yup, Keima is a magic tricks guinea pig for Tenri and Kanon's fans thinking he was going to the cinema with a different girl would be... amusing. In my personal opinion the first LN (first two girls) was better, but I still recommend reading the remaining novel. Thank you, I'll try to bring more chapters your way. :)

 **El Sasori69:** I didn't hear of "Project Diva X". Maybe I should check it out. I'm glad you read and comment other stories. Thank you for that. And thank you for the review. :)

 **Fss The Red Devil:** Thank you very much and no need to be sorry. I'm happy you reviewed anyway :). Speaking of that... that's on long review. Yeah, Ayumi had kinda proven she's to be feared when she says she'll kick your butt. Love the "open season on Keima's head" and "voltage-loving girl" bits. Not to mention the POK, 4th wall interaction and similar mysterious abilities xD. Yeah, sorry about it being so much Tenri, but there was much less in this chapter, so there you go :P. I'm pretty sure Keima discouraged Kanon from stopping being and idol or from going into the next level of idol fame, but not from game-making. I hope I'm not forgetting something important here. No, the review didn't give me aneurysm, actually it made the ending of a long day better.

 **Ok, that's it for now! Await the next chapter!  
**

 **See you next time!**


	14. Flag 77: True lies

**Hello, everyone!**

 **I'm back... at long last.**

 **Maybe this should become my normal greetings: it took me exactly three freaking months to update this and while I was busy a lot, it's still largely my fault this is out so late.**

 **On the other hand, I have prepared almost 11 thousand words, not including author's notes... thus, I decided to divide the chapter into two parts of roughly 5 500 words. The first part today, the second one in a few days (maybe after a week). The cutting point is not perfect though. Actually, the entire two-chapter is kinda all over the place... on the other hand some interesting stuff will happen, so maybe we shall get to it...**

 **...but before that, seeing that the last update was so long ago, I decided to add one more feature below.**

 **(* * *)**

 **Previously, on The World Kanon Only Knows:**

 **Asked by Kanon to help her design a dating sim with her music, Keima is researching various aspects of galges in class, to the surprise of Ayumi.**

 **The first design meeting with Keima, Kanon and Okada is a little rough, but the group comes up with some drafts and approximate plans for release date... and during the break Kanon recharges her batteries with Keima's help.**

 **Sometime later, Keima somehow ends in Kanon's apartment for more battery charging and pink furniture appraisal.**

 **Moreover, Kanon gets a brilliant idea to get more time with Keima, and the idea turns out to consist of using Eri to substitute for Kanon once in a while.** **The female Katsuragi is very enthusiastic to help, but Keima is unsure.**

 **Despite the doubts, the plan is put into effect and works well for a while, up to the point when Kanon's mother appears at the studio for some reason and witnesses Kanon and Eri swap places using magic.  
**

 **What are going to be the consequences? Read on to find out.**

 ** **Enjoy!****

 **(* * *)**

"And that's how it is," Keima finished.

What followed were blank stares coming from the five people sitting across the table from him.

Keima's mother was looking between confused and angry, apparently not fully understanding what she was doing here. Okada was looking similar, but worried instead of confused. Keima and Kanon's fathers seemed to be just confused.

And Mrs. Nakagawa seemed to just be angry.

Kanon and Eri, who were sitting on each of Keima's side, both sweatdropped.

The dark-haired Katsuragi sibling was fidgeting under her mother's gaze and seeing that made Kanon's stomach clench with guilt.

It was all her fault. She was the one who had suggested the entire swap-places idea and now had dragged Keima and Eri into trouble. And it had been such a good plan! Everything had been going well too... and then Kanon had messed it up.

Yes, it hadn't been Eri who messed up, even though her playing music out loud instead of using earphones had made both girls unable to hear that someone was coming and opening the door.

But it hadn't been Eri's fault – Okada-san had said she was going out for ten minutes and Eri had known she won't be back during that time.

It was Kanon who had messed up. It was her who had let her guard down and had become absent-minded enough to confuse days. Yes, Kanon _had_ known her mother would be coming to the TV studio to see her daughter, but Kanon had been certain it was supposed to happen two days later!

She had confused days and because of that her, Keima and Eri had to explain everything to the five people sitting on the other side of the table.

Why were there five people? Well, after Mrs. Nakagawa had seen the two girls in the changing Kanon had been hoping that the only thing her mother had seen had been her and Eri exchanging clothes. If so, then Kanon could have explained that Eri just wanted to try her clothes or that Eri just really wanted to be an idol for a day. Of course, such an explanation would mean a lot of lectures for Kanon, but she had been willing to take it as long as Eri wasn't punished or held responsible.

But unfortunately, Kanon's mother had seen more – she had seen both illusions being dispelled and it had shocked and dumbfounded her so much that she hadn't made a sound until both girls had realized she had been there.

After that, all Hell had broken loose.

In retrospect, Kanon could understand her mother. Seeing something like that would make everyone confused and worried about her daughter. Her mother was less of a problem though. The problem was that Mrs. Nakagawa had sought Okada and demanded an explanation as the manager was the one responsible for Kanon.

And then Okada, who hadn't seen anything, with her career on the line and with her knowledge on how to push Kanon's buttons managed to corner the girl. The fact Eri was much less resistant to being questioned than Kanon hadn't been helping either.

Long story short, Kanon had known she had messed up big time. At this point covering everything up seemed impossible, not to mention it would be incredibly unfair to their parents at this point. So Kanon had promised to explain stuff, but only with Keima there.

After that, she wasn't completely sure how it had happened, but here they were – Kanon and Katsuragi siblings sitting in front of five adults and trying to explain stuff... which resulted in Kanon and Eri sweatdropping at what Keima had just said.

This was _not_ how Kanon had envisioned her parents meeting Keima!

"So allow me to sum that up," Okada said as she repositioned her glasses, glaring at Keima, "Kanon and your sister were swapping places to allow her to see you more often."

"Yes," Keima said, calmly.

"And your explanation for what Mrs. Nakagawa here saw," the manager turned to the other woman, "can you repeat what you saw?"

"Umm...," Kanon's mother hesitated as more eyes turned to her, "I mean I saw Kanon and that other girl in the room and then they," the woman gestured for a while, searching for words, "changed. I mean one second Kanon was on the left and that girl was on the right and the next moment there was a flash of light and then poof! Kanon was on the right and the other girl was on the left!"

"Thank you," Okada said as she turned back to Keima, "and your explanation for this, Keima-kun is, that it was, how did you put it, a magic trick your sister learned from your neighbor."

"Precisely," Keima replied without blinking an eye.

"That's impossible!" Kanon's mother said.

"Trust me, Tenri's tricks are very good," Keima said, "she can even make an entire train disappear. It's like real magic. It even got me impressed."

Liar!, Kanon thought, it wasn't a magic trick and you don't think Tenri's tricks are that good!

"Well, what about the voice Mrs. Nakagawa heard?" Okada asked. It was clear she was determined to get to the bottom of this.

"The music was playing in the background, wasn't it?" Keima questioned back as if it was obvious.

"Keima-kun," Kanon started as she put her hand on his shoulder. She understood what Keima was doing. He was trying to weasel their way out of it, by feeding everyone one of his fattest lies yet. Kanon even understood why he was doing it, but it was useless. Not only was it unfair, but him being able to lie and convince everyone wasn't enough. Okada's career was at stake here and the bespectacled woman was already suspicious before, so she wouldn't give up now. Adding Eri into the mix it just wouldn't work anymore.

"Let's stop this," she said.

"What do you mean?" Keima said back, his voice much quieter.

"Let's not do it like this!"

Keima sighed. "Alright, in that case, the only choice is to-"

"And don't even think about erasing anyone's memory!" Kanon exclaimed, that statement managing to bring even the dozing off fathers back to full attention.

"Erasing anyone's what?" Mari questioned, "what do you mean by that?"

"Yes, _what_ do you mean by that?" Keima asked, continuing to act.

"Don't give me that!" Kanon told him, getting closer and making Keima lean back. "Let's just tell the truth and be done with it."

"Are you kidding?" Keima said, glaring back at her. "Of course we can't do that! Even Apollo wouldn't be stupid enough to do that!"

"You're already saying it, aren't you?" Kanon told him.

"Umm... guys," Eri tried to calm them down, but it was useless.

"Whatever I say now won't matter, when the memory remov-"

"Oh no, you don't!" Kanon moved even closer. "You're not erasing my parents' memories!" Kanon said as she jabbed her finger into his chest in a demanding manner. "You know how I feel about you, but this is something you won't do!"

"And how exactly you plan on stopping me?" Keima challenged, his arms over his chest. "You _are_ aware of everything, so you know there's nothing you can even threaten me with."

"Oh... you mean, besides Tenri, Chihiro, Ayumi, Haqua, Diana, Vulcan," Kanon started to count on her fingers, "and, I don't know, two dozen other people? You still didn't count, like, several thousand of my fans!"

Keima tried for his poker face, but he didn't fully succeed.

"Okay, what the hell is going on here?" Mari Katsuragi asked as she stood up, her hands slamming against the table. Normally it would be time to panic, but it seemed part of Mari's anger was due to her confusion and helplessness, as indicated by her shaking hands and the tone in her voice.

"Fair point," Keima told Kanon, completely ignoring his mother, "in that case I'll just change your mind."

"No," Kanon said, "I'll change yours as I did before," she narrowed her eyes, "I think it's fair our parents learn the truth about us," her face softened, "please," she added.

Keima was about to retaliate, but Eri asked: "What about me?"

Her brother immediately turned to her with a scolding gaze. "What do you mean what about you? There's nothing about you!"

"B-but I'm a part of the story!" Eri said, tears beginning to form in her eyes.

"No, you're not!" Keima said. "After my dead body!"

"Mom, nii-sama is bullying me!"

"Stop acting like a 10-year-old!"

"Okay, please let's calm down, everyone," Kanon said, noticing things getting out of control and watching the five faces on the other side of the table getting more concerned, angry and confused, "let's just get this done and over with!"

"And I said 'no'!" Keima answered. "Honestly, you said you'd make it up to me and I won't regret this and then you ignored me when I told you that it was a bad idea and now _this_ ," he pointed to the other end of the table, "happens!"

"I'm sorry," Kanon said, guilt filling her, "it was my fault and I'll accept your punishment... but this has to be done."

"No, it doesn-"

"Are you scared, Keima-kun?"

"What?" Keima exclaimed flabbergasted. "Me? Scared?" Kanon nodded. "I'm just concerned about what would happen and I'm trying to prevent that!"

"That's the definition of being scared!" Kanon told him. "You're just scared of what would happen! Look, I know it's my fault and there's been a lot of unfair things that happened to you, but this is our reality and I really think you should be the strong man I know you are and accept it... please accept it."

"Nii-sama?" Eri said. "Accepting reality?"

After that, it was silent for a while. Kanon kept looking at Keima with pleading eyes and Keima kept looking back with an uncertain expression.

"I don-"

"Please," Kanon repeated as she took his hand into hers, "I promise, I _will_ make it worth in the end," she said, "I promise it'll be ok. And I'll be there with you," she squeezed his hand, "you're not alone in this Keima-kun."

It was quiet again and everyone in the room looked at Keima, who's face slowly begun to change. He didn't say anything, but the way his expression changed it was almost as if...

"I'll be damned," Mari breathed out as she sat down again, her legs buckling at the thought of her son actually accepting reality... in whatever context Kanon meant it.

"Shit!" Keima said as he put his hand on his face. He stayed like that for a moment, before sighing and removing his hand from his face, revealing his business face that made everyone perk up, with Eri gasping and Kanon gulping. There was just something about the determined Keima that brought a rosy blush to her face.

"Alright, though this is on you," Keima told Kanon, before turning to the five people across the table, giving them a look a general would give soldiers, before saying:

"Haqua, are you there?"

For a moment nothing happened and then the purple-haired devil materialized out of thin air, taking place in the empty seat next to Eri.

"You know I am," the girl said, swinging her scythe in a badass manner, before almost falling back when Eri pounced on her with a smile and cry of 'Haqua!'

"You knew she was here?" Kanon asked.

"Of course," Haqua answered for Keima as she got Eri and her hugs under control, "I am usually around and Katsuragi asked me specifically to be here," she narrowed her eyes at Kanon, "though you know, even if you convinced him, that doesn't mean you convinced me. You do realize this is a major incident and-"

"We had a lot of people knowing already and nothing bad had happened so far," Kanon noticed.

Haqua looked at Keima and then sighed, muttering something like 'why do I do this', before crossing her arms over her chest.

"Can you float?" Keima said to Haqua before he turned to Kanon. "Also, can you come out, Apollo?"

There was a sudden flash of light and then the ditsy goddess was now where Kanon was previously, sending feathers around.

"This," Keima pointed to Haqua clearly floating above the ground, "is a devil..."

"A New Devil," Haqua corrected him.

"And this," he pointed to Apollo, "is a goddess."

"Hello, Kanon's parents, Katsuragi's parents, and Manager-san!" Apollo said cheerfully, waving to everyone present, seeming not bothered by their shocked faces.

"We have a lot to cover, so let's do this," Keima said with finality.

(* * *)

"Are you alright?"

Keima's eyes shot open and he sat up. His room was dark, thick curtains effectively blocking the afternoon sun. How long did he sleep? And who was talking to him? The voice was female, but the silhouette he saw by the door was not like Eri's or mom's. In fact, in the darkness, it reminded him of Vintage agents.

"Who's there?" he asked as he discreetly searched for his glasses. Where did he put them?

The figure didn't answer, though Keima could swear he heard a sigh, before it walked into the room and past Keima.

"What are you-Gah!" Keima shielded his eyes from the blinding sun as the figure opened the curtain, letting the light inside.

"Wow, you're really out of it, aren't you otamega?" the figure asked.

There was only one person who after all this time still occasionally called him that.

"Chihiro?"

"That's me," the girl in question sat in his chair, backrest to him, giving him her trademark cheeky smile.

"What are you doing here?" Keima asked. Was it a dream?

"Eri invited us over."

"Us?"

"2-B pencils," the brown-haired girl clarified.

"My sister?" Keima asked and Chihiro nodded. "Invited the entire band?" Another nod. "Knowing that my mother is now aware of most of the story?"

Yes, it was several days after Kanon has convinced Keima to reveal the truth to their parents and Okada. And, as expected, by the end of the day, pretty much everyone involved knew of that. Keima suspected it had to do with Eri being a blabbermouth. Or his mother questioning Tenri. Or both.

"Yup," Chihiro said, "and what do you mean by 'most of the story'?"

Keima snorted. "You didn't think I'd tell every tiny detail?" he asked.

Chihiro shrugged. "If you went along with telling the outline, what harm are the details?"

"Another hour of my life wasted for one," he told her, "anyway, if the entire band is here then how come Yui isn't in my room yet?" he asked instead, not sure if he wanted to know the answer.

"Oh, she'd very like to get here, but your mother stopped her," Chihiro explained, "she said that you already have girlfriend and such."

"And that stopped Yui?" Keima looked around as if he expected to see Mars climbing through his window.

"You say it as if you didn't know your mother," Chihiro shivered, "besides Yui has a lot of problems lately," she counted with her fingers, "studying, her mother, your mother, keeping away from suitors."

"Suitors?" Keima snorted. "She can just avoid them."

"Not if they're brought by her mother," Chihiro said, "When I think I'd have to deal with that on summer break, I actually feel bad for her."

Keima was silent for a moment.

"None of that explains why are you in my room?"

"Well... Yui did want to 'check on you' and after your mother forbade her, someone else had to go."

"Why not Ayumi?" Keima asked.

"Well, she was kinda too scared of your mother to volunteer."

"Eri?"

"Your mother is kinda too scared of _her_ ," Chihiro said, "and Miyako didn't seem eager to go here, so that left me to check on you... speaking of that, are you alright?"

"What made you think I wasn't alright?" he asked.

"Well..." Chihiro said slowly, assessing him. First, he hadn't been playing his games when she had arrived. Second, he had been sleeping and seemed out of it. Third, there were bags under his eyes and his hair was in more disarray than usual. Compared to the normal focused and, in a way, energetic Keima Katsuragi Chihiro knew, this Keima looked lost.

"You don't look alright at all," Chihiro said, "what's wrong?"

Keima hesitated.

"I'll stay here until you talk," she propped her hands on the backrest, "or maybe do you want me to call your mother instead?"

"You're annoying as always," Keima said, but Chihiro only grinned.

"So... what's going on?" she prodded.

Keima sighed.

"You need to ask?" Keima said. "I told my family the truth."

Chihiro groaned.

"Look," she said, "I know your thought process is different from most people... but if you want any of us, mortal beings, to understand you then you'd have to tell me the story bit by bit."

"Should I make it simple as if you were Eri?" Keima asked.

"Maybe as if I were Ayumi," Chihiro said, "c'mon, you'll feel better when you do it."

Never had Keima thought the brown-haired girl in front of him would remind him of Tenri so much. Their approaches might've been different, but both girls seemed more and more like his therapists.

Chihiro was right though. He was losing his cool. Not that he didn't notice that. He sighed again.

"You saw my mother, right?" Chihiro nodded. "How did you think she had taken the news?"

"Um... well, I guess?" the girl tried.

"Yeah, my mother took things 'well'," Keima said, "and I'm 'alright'."

"Okay, so how did she take it?"

"In multiple ways," Keima started, "of course it started with denial. It was too bizarre and in conflict with her image of me to immediately accept, but hard evidence was enough to stop her from calling me a liar and raging at me. It lasted for like two days during which me and Eri had to take over the café. After that, my mother accepted the truth and it became... weird..." he paused.

"Go on," Chihiro prodded him.

"Well, first thing is that she doesn't seem to be able to decide what to do with me," Keima continued, "it was clear before. I was a disgrace of a nerd son and she was constantly on my case. Now sometimes she seems angry I didn't tell her anything."

"I'm not saying you should tell her sooner, but her behavior is understandable," Chihiro said, thinking of what her mother would say if she told her she was running with Keima invisible among violence-thirsty Vintage agents.

"That's not all," Keima stood up, "other times she looks as if she saw me and Eri for the first time. Like she doesn't know us anymore. Like she's scared."

"Can't say that surprising either," Chihiro said. She already noticed something in his story and current demeanor, but she kept quiet for now, "you have to understand her. She had her views on you for, like, 17 years now, so a shock is pretty normal. Your new image is fighting the old one. I believe it has a name in psychology."

"Cognitive dissonance, yes," Keima said, "but I guess you're right, it's just... it's difficult."

"Well, sucks to be you then," Chihiro said, "what about the others? I mean Kanon's parents," she clarified when Keima looked at her blankly, "they were there, right?"

"Yes," Keima said, "Kanon's manager seemed to have been in shock as well, but she's passed it now," he smiled, but it didn't reach his eyes, "she already started spewing ideas on how to use Apollo's magic and healing abilities to improve Kanon's performance. Kanon and Apollo are not amused."

"I'm surprised she didn't want to use _your_ abilities," Chihiro mused and Keima laughed darkly.

"Oh, she did," he said, "she wanted me to work on Kanon's schedule and other stuff, but Kanon told me I have absolutely no obligation to do anything Okada asks me to do."

"Nice," Chihiro said, "but you were supposed to talk about Kanon's parents."

"Well, they were very angry with Kanon at first for not telling them about anything, including the assassination attempt," Keima started, "then they apparently got really angry at me for putting Kanon in danger."

"You put her in danger?" Chihiro asked. "It was those dark-cloaked bastards who-"

"I marked Kanon as a goddess' host," Keima said.

"Otherwise we would have a damn world end!"

"I ignored the signs of Vintage targeting Kanon," Keima said firmly, "I let her get hurt."

"You saved her!"

"At the cost of hurting you and Ayumi."

"Well... you're not wrong there..."

"And there was that last attack too," Keima added, "anyway, it's no surprise Kanon's parents are doubting whether I'm a good boyfriend for their daughter."

At this Chihiro straightened herself on the chair.

"Don't tell me you broke up with Kanon," the brown-haired girl asked, a dangerous glint in her eyes.

"No, I didn't."

"Did... her parents want you to break up?"

"Well... it seems they brought up such a suggestion, but Kanon didn't take it well. Apparently, she and her parents had a big argument," Keima smiled weakly, "so I basically made their family turn against each other."

Chihiro snorted. "Kanon-chan has the right to decide what to do and she's been living alone for a long time and she's adult enoug-why are you laughing?"

"What you're saying is exactly what Kanon told her parents," Keima brushed his hair out of his face. Chihiro wondered when was the last time he washed it, "so... in result, I was invited for a dinner."

"Ooh... that's good, right?" Chihiro asked.

"It's a lot of pressure," Keima said, "it's not like in games. Or it's like in games, but after encountering a poison flag. It'll be a minefield now. The success depends on so many variables..."

"But you _want_ it to succeed," Chihiro stated, not asked.

Keima was silent for a moment and then shrugged. "I guess I'm not used to losing or turning down challenges, so I'm treating this as a game, as I always did."

"Bullshit!" Chihiro said, startling him. "Look at yourself," she told him and when his incredulous expression didn't change she continued, "tell me, when was the last time you've been concerned about what your family thinks of you? When was the last time you were so concerned about your _real_ girlfriend and what her _real_ parents think of you?"

Chihiro paused for a moment, to calm down, before she continued. "You _do_ have a good idea what's going on with you, don't you?"

Keima was silent for a while. Unlike what Chihiro expected he didn't look away, look down or close his eyes. Instead, he looked back at her with a determined expression. Once upon a time, she would have taken that gaze as a glare, a challenge or an insult and it'd make her disturbed. She didn't exactly approve — as that was part of why he was shunned by his peers — but now as she got to know him more, she understood that look better. The look like the one he had given her back on Akanemaru a while ago. The look of someone who had his own beliefs, who knew himself and who wouldn't let the world around him dictate what was fun or interesting and what wasn't.

Except he didn't really seem like he was himself right now.

"Okay," he said suddenly, bringing her back to the topic at hand, "I'll bite. What's going on with me?"

Chihiro briefly wondered if he really didn't know or was it just a way to defend himself, but she just decided to go along with it.

"You're changing," she started, "you see yourself as you were years before and it disagrees with what you're going through right now... a cognitive dissonance as you have put it."

"I'm changing?" he repeated. "How?"

"As I said, before, you're caring about the stuff you wouldn't care for before," Chihiro explained, "like your parents, friends... your life in general, I guess."

"I cared for my life before... at least my life in the game world," he said, before pausing, "are you suggesting I'm becoming part of the real?"

"Well, yes and no," Chihiro answered.

"That doesn't make sense," Keima said, "it's either one or the other."

Chihiro shook her head. "What I mean is, you're changing from the otamega Katsuragi we all know... but you think that'll immediately make you like us normies."

"Wouldn't it?" Keima snorted.

"You see, the thing is you're different from us. I mean fundamentally different," Chihiro said, "even as a gamer you were never like other gamers..."

"So, what happens, when I stop being... me?" Keima asked, unsure.

"Who knows?" Chihiro mused. "Maybe you'll be like Einstein or Hawking. One thing is for sure. It's happening," Chihiro sighed, "Kanon-chan sure is something..."

Keima blinked. "What do you mean?"

Chihiro gave him a look. "Don't play stupid," she said, "I agree that your family deserved to know the truth... but I understand why you wanted to avoid it. It's a lot of hassle for someone who wants to be left in peace... yet you agreed. Because Kanon pleaded you."

"How do you know this?" Keima asked before he answered his own question. "Eri... I'm going to murder her."

"No you won't," Chihiro said, "it's tough for her now as well, so she needs ours and _your_ support as well. The same goes for your mother. All of you are trapped between 'old status quo' and 'new status quo'... I know the transition is hard and it's not going to be pretty... but you're going to go through this and you're going to be happy about that," Chihiro finished as she stood up.

Keima thought she was going back downstairs, but instead, the brown-haired girl walked to his closet and started to rummage in it.

"What do you think you're doing?" he hollered.

"Relax, I'm not searching for your porn, or eroge, collection, that'd probably be under your bed."

"I don't-" Keima started before Chihiro threw something at him. He looked down to see a fresh shirt and pair of pants... and a towel. He looked back at her, incredulous.

"What is that for?" he asked.

"You look like a mess," Chihiro pointed to his hair and eyes, "so you _will_ take a shower, then you _will_ wear fresh clothes and then you _will_ walk downstairs and talk with your sister and parents and make the new status quo come faster," she gave him a hard look, "and if you refuse, then the only difference will be that me and Yui will _drag_ you downstairs."

Keima sighed, but obeyed.

(* * *)

Finally, the ringing stopped and the intercom came to life.

"Hello? Who is it?" a voice asked.

"It's Keima," the gamer said.

"Okay, give me a minute, Keima-kun," the line went dead after this.

Of course, it was more than a minute, but after some time Kanon did come out of the elevator and out of the building to meet him.

"Good day, Keima-kun," the idol said.

Kanon was using Apollo's illusion, but it extended only to her hair, which was long and brown. Together with her boring glasses, it made for a decent disguise. She was also wearing clothes Keima hadn't seen previously. Actually — aside from her school uniform and the dark coat get-up she used for disguise — he didn't remember ever seeing her wear the same set of clothes twice. However, while the particular articles might've been different and unique, the general theme and purpose he had seen before. Kanon was used to glamorous stage dresses, so she naturally strove for more casual, common and easy-to-wear clothes when off duty. However, this time the casual part was toned down, giving the girl the air of maturity and seriousness. And Keima knew exactly why.

They were going for dinner at her parents' place today.

Fortunately, Keima himself didn't have to choose between being himself and trying to dress up, because his usual shirt and pants seemed fitting enough for the occasion without the need to do anything.

Okay, maybe he was better groomed than usual, but his mother did this.

Okay, maybe she didn't, but she would have nagged him otherwise, so it's the same thing.

"So," Kanon said, bringing him back, "shall we start walking?"

"Walking?" Keima repeated. "You mean Okada isn't waiting around the corner to give us a ride?"

"No."

"Are your parents fine with you walking the streets like that?"

"Well, it's not like I'm alone," Kanon said.

"Yeah, I make you feel safe, I remember," Keima said, "is that enough for your parents?"

"Well... that, me being stubborn and the fact that Haqua-san or some other devil is probably around one of those streetlights," she pointed to the street, "and besides, I wanted to talk to you... alone."

Keima nodded. "How far is to your parents' place?"

"Well, I normally don't really walk there from my apartment," Kanon said, "but I'd say it's no more than 15 minutes."

"Alright," Keima said as they started walking, "what did you want to talk about then?"

"I'm sorry, Keima-kun," Kanon said with her face downcast.

Keima looked at her surprised. "For what?"

"I dragged you into this and made your life more difficult again."

"It's funny," Keima remarked.

"Huh?" Kanon uttered, not understanding.

"Back then you argued with me to have it your way and now you're being sorry for making it hard for me," Keima explained, "it's really ask-for-attention-then-fry-him-then-apologize with you, isn't it?"

"I'm so sorry!" Kanon said.

"It's alright," Keima said, making her look up, "I was the first who dragged you into this entire business when I marked you as goddess host 10 years ago," Keima said, "if anything, we're even."

"S-so... you're not mad?" Kanon asked, looking lost.

"No, not really," Keima said, before pausing, "now, if that's all you wanted to tell me, then I suggest we talk about our game."

"Our game?"

"Yes, summer break is not going to last forever and our time is already tight, so we may as well use that 15 minutes to talk. I do have a few ideas I want to bounce off you."

Kanon didn't say anything.

"So," Keima offering his arm to her, making the idol even more flabbergasted, "shall we get going?"

Kanon was unmoving for a moment, before she took the offered arm and started walking with Keima, looking away from him to hide her blush... only to look into a window, where she saw happy-looking Apollo showing her thumbs up.

"So, about our game," Keima started and 20 seconds later they Kanon already found herself invested in the conversation.

 **(* * *)**

 **As I said, it's not a perfect cutting point, but it allows to divide it into two almost equal-sized chapters.**

 **Anyway, some important things happened here as you can see. First and foremost: Kanon somehow convinced Keima to tell the truth and the result is unprecedented in this series: now Mari Katsuragi finally knows what's been going on and so do Kanon's parents... who don't seem to have reacted too well and the next obstacles on Kanon and Keima's route to happy ending is a dreaded dinner with Mr. and Mrs. Nakagawa. Don't worry though, I'm sure Keima will be polite and... well, who am I kidding...**

 **Moreover, we also got to see Keima struggling with his own identity so much that Tenri's help is not enough and Chihiro had to fill the role of an additional therapist, helping Keima realize that he might be becoming a little different then he had expected the entire time. Chihiro also forces Keima and Eri to talk things with their mother, though we don't get to see the result of this talk.**

 **I guess you'll have to wait for another chapter to see how Keima survives dealing with his and Kanon's parents. :)**

 **As usual, I want to thank everyone for their support, including views, favs, follows and reviews. They always make me happy. Please, continue to support me and let me know what you think of my story.**

 **Below are responses to the latest reviews:**

 **Ghost Man:** yup, Z-axis 180 degree rotation was successfully applied :). Yup, Okada kida still underestimated Keima's passion when it comes to games. Heh, I wonder when Kanon is more yanderish: with or without her batteries charged :P. Lol, I didn't even think of the lesbian possibility. That'd be interesting. *gasps* No issues? Are you sure you have the right fanfic? :P

 **EdszxNeo (first):** thank you very much for giving me such an elaborate review. It's so long that I don't even know what to comment about. I'm honored mine is the first fanfiction you reviewed. Also it always feel great to see someone enjoying this series and fandom like you do. Heh, Apollo is totally underappreciated here :P. Glad you liked the details. Though, it's not a nondescript, censored, alien burger! It's BigWac *huffs offended* xD. Yes, Kanon is a girl of (pop)culture :P. Lessgoo xD. **  
**

 **Big Bad Beowolf:** thank you for the review, glad you like the chapter. I thought about Okada seeing Eri and Kanon (it was far more logical and easy to do), but I specifically wanted Kanon's mother involved for reasons. **  
**

 **ZelgadisGW:** is this Blackbeard's laugh I'm hearing? Yeah, butting heads for the win! No idea what you mean with the carpet thing *whistles innocently*. Yup, Kanon make sure Keima is comfortable...-ish. Thank you for the review!

 ** **EdszxNeo (second):**** I think Keima not having male friends is one of the points that makes him him, though I agree that Ryou is next to useless and we have only 3 important-ish male characters in the story. I can already see a "Kanon Nakagawa co. – schedule fixing" signboard with a knife symbol underneath xD. Yup, Kanon's very  
diligent. *gasps* You predicted Eri's appearance! o.O Heh, I believe Elnon ("Elsie" + "Kanon") is fan-made name for whe Elsie was substituting for Kanon in the manga :P. It's magic *snort* *snort* xD. Also, thanks for the corrections. :) ** **  
****

 ** **Sir Sleeps-a-lot (both):**** lol, you say that to a gain who updated after 3 months. No biggie. I'm always very happy to see and read your reviews. Especially since I wasn't very fast for reviewing myself. I'm glad you appreciate all the little details :). It's almost as if Keima is having a double life xD. Yup, nice reference you have there. It's not like I can compete with you when it comes to music :). *blushes at all the compliments to my writing* T-thank you very much. Keima's idiot hair said it wasn't over yet and it shall have it revenge! xD Nooo, don't tase my reviewers just because they give nice and long reviews! Bad Kanon! *gets tased myself*

Heh, I didn't even notice I always gave Kanon kissing privacy. Yup, Kanon is not just listeniing. She knows what kinda game she wants to make! :) Laughed at Keimonium xD. Yes, beds and carpets are nice ;). Now that you mention it... maybe Kanon's mother should walk in on something else sometime in the future :P. Once again thank you for your reviews, they sure brighten my day :).

 **El Sasori69:** thank you for the suggestions. As you can see, Keima and Kanon got to fight a little bit. Maybe it wasn't very intense or long-term, but Kanon did put her foot down, so I hope you're satisfied. As for Yui, I do have one or two ideas, but we'll have to see about that.

 **UzumeofGamindustri:** thank you very much for your review! So, KamiNomiNai was the best in your opinion? Glad to hear that :).

 **Sol D. Mars:** thank you very much, glad that you like the direction the story is taking. I hope you'll like the further chapters too. And I understand you: Ayumi is a great girl :).

 **Jargax:** yes, thank you very much for taking your time to review :). I hope you'll enjoy the rest of this story and that I'll be able to write it faster.

 **Fss The Red Devil:** welcome to the part. Glad you reviewed :). I think it's time to establish "Ayumi and Haqua" bodyguarding agency :). Bad pun? Where? The capacitated one was a great pun :). Sorry to dash your hopes concerning the apartment thing. And I'm not your favorite Polish person anymore? T.T Yes, I'm evil! Muahahaha! :). Nooo! I'm not the second favorite Polish person now? So... am I your favorite again? Yay! \0/

 **Okay, that's it for today. Stay tuned for the next chapter coming in a week!**

 **See you next time!**


	15. Flag 78: Streaming the dinner

**Hello everyone!**

 **I'm back as promised and on time for once!**

 **There's one thing I want to say before we get into the chapter. One of the reviewers mentioned ShioriNomi getting closer. I'd like to use this opportunity to mention/announce something I'm not sure I have talked about, so I want to say it now, so there won't be misunderstandings later on.  
**

 **Yes, ShioriNomi is getting closer and Shiori will be the next girl who'll have her chance with Keima...**

 **...however, between KanonNomi and ShioriNomi I want to post one more story in the Nomi series. It will be a short story (a few chapters I think) and you might already be able to guess what this story will be about... if not, then I guess you'll have to wait to find out!**

 **Anyway, onto the chapter!**

 **(* * *)**

 **Previously on The World Kanon Only Knows:**

 **After Kanon and Eri are caught red-handed by Kanon's mom, Keima tries to explain the situation to Okada, his parents and Kanon's parents by telling them a fake story. However, Kanon stops that and after a fight she persuades Keima to tell the truth instead.**

 **During a visit in Keima's house by 2-B pencils Chihiro finds lost and weary Keima in his room.** **Keima reveals that the relations between him, Eri and their parents have become weird. Chihiro reassures him it's just temporary.** **Keima is also surprised because he's not where he expected himself to be when dragged into the real. Chihiro theorizes he'd end up somewhere else than expected because of how unique person he is, before forcing him to pull himself together and face his family.**

 **Keima also reveals Kanon's parents are angry and don't want him to date their daughter, but after Kanon talked to them, they decided to invite Keima and Kanon for dinner.  
**

 **Later, Keima meets Kanon at her apartment and the idol apologizes for causing trouble for him, before they talk about their game projects as they walk to Kanon's parents' place.**

 **So let's now find out how much of a disaster will the dinner with Kanon's parents be!**

 **Enjoy!**

 **(* * *)**

Kanon was more than a little nervous about bringing Keima to her parents for dinner. Thanks to the game conversation she calmed down a little. However, now with her parents sitting across of them, the nervousness returned with vengeance.

This was especially true as Kanon was actually the only person that knew the whole truth. Keima didn't exactly tell all the little details of their relationship. And of course, Keima himself was not aware of the entire orb thing.

She squeezed his hand under the table.

"Thank you for accepting our invitation, Katsuragi-san," Mrs. Nakagawa said after a moment of awkward silence, "we're glad we could have you with us."

Keima wasn't so sure if the use of the family name and the suffix were any indications. It could very well mean that even Kanon's mother was not supporting their relationship. Keima's experience with fathers was pretty much limited to Ayumi's dad and that had been a very specific situation. Still, Keima was certain that Kanon's father's opinion on him was worse than his wife's.

"Thank you for your hospitality," Keima said, though he was sure the only reason he was invited was Kanon's pleading.

"Then let us eat," Mrs. Nakagawa said.

"Right, I'm famished," Kanon said, "can I ask for the salad?"

The said dish was close to Keima and he wanted to reach for it, but Mr. Nakagawa was faster.

"Here sweetie," those were the man's first words since he greeted Keima. Not a very good sign.

"Thanks, dad," Kanon said with a small smile, though Keima was almost certain she shot her father a look when she thought Keima wasn't paying attention.

"I really like this salad, it's one of mom's best," Kanon continued, "you should try it Keima-kun."

"I'm pretty sure it's nothing compared to what your mother can dish out, Katsuragi-san," Mrs. Nakagawa said as Keima took the salad from Kanon and dished up his plate.

"Actually, I don't think I've ever seen my mother make that kind of salad," Keima said, before taking a bite and swallowed before speaking again, "it's really good. You shouldn't show it to my mother though unless you want her to pester you for the recipe."

Mrs. Nakagawa remained silent for a second or two, seemingly unchanged, though Keima could swear he could see the older woman's lips twitch as if she was stopping herself from smiling.

Mr. Nakagawa coughed and soon all four of them were eating and it was quiet for a while, save for the sounds of cutlery.

"Thank you for the meal," Keima said after a while, though the table was far from empty. Either Kanon's family always ate this much or they packed the table full in hopes the eating part would never end, "it was very good."

"Oh, it was nothing," Mrs. Nakagawa said.

"Excuse me, but I disagree," Keima said, "actually, I feel kinda indebted. For the next dinner, I invite you over to my family house, I'm sure my mother-"

Kanon shot Keima a discreet glance, sensing the trap he was laying down and didn't have to wait long to see someone step into it.

"And what if we don't want to come over to you for dinner?" Mr. Nakagawa asked.

Kanon and her mother opened their mouths, but Keima beat them to it.

"I see," Keima said, his tone mostly neutral and even on the polite side, except for the sheer confidence it contained, "I'd be just Kanon then."

"Enough!" Mr. Nakagawa stood up. "You won't be seeing my daughter!"

"Dad!" Kanon also stood up.

"Manabu!" Mrs. Nakagawa said, turning to her husband. "You-".

"No, Hotaru! This boy won't-"

"And how would you do that?" Keima said quietly, making three pairs of lips stop and three pairs of eyes look at him.

What did you say?" Mr. Nakagawa asked after a moment of silence.

Keima didn't sigh or smile or blink. He remained completely motionless except for his lips when he spoke.

"How do you plan on preventing Kanon from seeing me?"

"Don't joke with me boy!"

At this Keima laughed, shaking his head at something only he understood, making everyone present even more confused. Kanon started to panic, something that didn't really happen often.

"Do you think this is funny?" Mr. Nakagawa asked. "Do you-"

"Do you know how it is to have a current generated by thousands of volts run through your body and have something precious of yours fried?" Keima asked as he looked up and Kanon saw his eyes and her breath hitched. "Do you know how it is to get confessed in the middle of class by the most famous teenager in Japan and have dozens of death threats send your way? And I'm talking only about death threats. Do you know how it is to know your classmate was in a coma and could die because of the mistake you've made? Kanon doesn't know that," he indicated to the pink-haired girl, "sure, she might have access to my memories, but knowledge isn't feeling. She can know my pain or guilt, but she can't _feel_ them. I can. And if want to know how it is to _feel_ those things Nakagawa-san, then I'll be here to tell you all about it."

Kanon could feel it. Not the pain or guilt. She could feel something radiating off Keima. Something even more ridiculous for a human being to have than pink hair. Her father slowly sat back down, his wife's hand not leaving his shoulder.

"I surely cannot get inside your head and fully know what you're feeling right now," Keima continued, "but I sure can understand your concerns."

"You're glad," Mrs. Nakagawa said, her eyes fixed on Keima, "you're glad we're concerned about you dating Kanon..."

Keima snorted. "Of course I'm glad, you're concerned," he said, "Kanon had a lot of issues and she carries a stun gun for a reason. She's a strong girl, but that doesn't mean she can do everything alone. She needs a lot of support, including her own family. Of course, I'm glad her parents are not a pair of idiots who'd accept someone like me without question or even after questions."

"You think we shouldn't accept you as Kanon's boyfriend?" Mrs. Nakagawa asked.

"What does it matter what I want?" Keima said. "I ask you again: how exactly do you plan on preventing Kanon from seeing me?"

When the answer didn't come, Keima continued.

"Kanon started her show business career and started to live on her own very early. Somehow, I'm certain you didn't want her to do that, yet here she is: the top idol of Japan. How was that possible with her parents being concerned like that? The answer is simple: Kanon convinced you. She is well-behaved, polite and gentle when she has what she wants, but she can be a pretty stubborn and determined girl when she wants to get it."

"What that has to do with Kanon and you going out?" Mr. Nakagawa asked.

"Everything," Keima said, "I understand your concerns, but I think you're trying to convince the wrong person. Even if I didn't want to have anything to do with Kanon, it's useless to threaten me. No matter what you say, Kanon did talk you into giving me and her a chance. The fact that the four of us are sitting here is the proof of that. It's Kanon you need to convince to stop seeing me and I don't see it happening. Besides," he took off his glasses, "I tried to talk her out of it a few months ago. I didn't want _any_ girlfriend, I'm not someone you can just sway easily like that and I remembered all too well how difficult being around Kanon was sometimes. Now, I understand your concern: you're worried I have the sway over her. Yet, despite all of that swat and my arguments, Kanon tried to convince me to give us a chance and she has succeeded. If I couldn't talk her out if it, then I'm sorry, but you're not talking any of us out of it. And trying to prevent her from seeing me with force would be a bad idea either. Trust me, I've seen what teenage girls could do when someone tried to rein them in. One has left home and gone to America for a few years. Another walked the streets in a cosplay, acting as if she were crazy. Some started to cross-dress one even developed a horror called sweet rāmen. You don't want your daughter to end up like that."

Kanon didn't have any idea why, but she had to stop herself from laughing. From what she could see her mother had a similar reaction. Her father just looked at Keima, baffled.

"That's very good," Mrs. Nakagawa said after a moment, "but you didn't answer our question. Considering all you've said right now, do you think we should accept you?"

"In my opinion? Yes," Keima said.

"Do you _want_ to be Kanon's boyfriend?" Mrs. Nakagawa asked.

"Yes."

The sheer lack of doubt in Keima's voice made Kanon look at him.

"Why?" Mr. Nakagawa asked this time.

"Because I like her."

Kanon's mouth opened and remained open for a few seconds until she spoke.

"C-could you repeat that, Keima-kun?"

Keima turned to Kanon and looked her in the eyes.

"I like you, Kanon."

Kanon just sat there for a moment, her face slowly turning a very attractive shade of red.

"That's why I'm asking for your blessings," Keima interlaced his fingers with Kanon's and put their joined hands on the table for both adults to see.

"I want to join that requests as well!" there was a sudden flash and Apollo materialized, her wings on full display, sending feather flying everywhere.

"This guy here," the goddess put her hand on Keima's shoulder, "is right. The heart wants what the heart wants and, believe me, I can feel Kanon's love overflowing inside of me right now. You won't be able to persuade her otherwise, so just let her be happy. And trust me, this guy is very much capable of making her happy, even if he's a jerk at times."

"Thanks for the vote of confidence," Keima said sarcastically, but Apollo only put her hands in his, a happy careless smile on her face, "I'll leave Kanon in your care then."

And with another flash, Kanon was back. The idol blinked, looked down at her hands still in Keima's, before she pulled them back, blushing heavily.

"W-well, that didn't go as I thought," Kanon said, before clearing her throat, "but Keima-kun and Apollo are right. I know a lot has happened, but Keima-kun is not an enemy. In fact, if there's anyone in the world, who both understands me and has the means to protect me from dangerous people and devils, it is Keima-kun. He is, and a lot of people can attest to that, the last person who'd want to go out with a real girl with the intention to harm her. Please, believe in us!"

"Believe in you?" Mr. Nakagawa asked, pointing at Keima. "This boy was ready to call us idiots right to our faces!"

"Only if you proved you were idiots, but, yeah," Keima admitted.

"You were the reason my daughter was attacked and her life was put in danger!" Mr. Nakagawa said.

"I never blamed Keima-kun for that!" Kanon said, her voice getting louder now. "Or for marking me as a goddess host for that matter! I'm grateful I could be useful after everything I've done to him!"

"Honey, you nee-" Mrs. Nakagawa started, but was interrupted.

"No! I won't calm down!" Kanon said. "Look, I know you worry about me and have my best interest in heart and I love you, mom, dad... and I'm sorry, but I'm not going to break up with Keima-kun! If that's all you have to say, then I and Keima-kun will just go."

Mr. and Mrs. Nakagawa looked at her daughter for a moment, before Mr. Nakagawa turned to Keima, looking angry.

"You see what you've done!? You turned our own daughter against us!" he said. "In that case, I have only one more thing to add," he looked Keima dead in the eye, "if you hurt our Kanon-chan or make her unhappy, we'll make you pay."

"Father! I won-wait, what?" Kanon asked, her eyes widened.

"That's impossible," Keima said without hesitation, "if I ever were to hurt Kanon-chan, a certain classmate of mine would find me and pulverize me. And she's like demon fast, you wouldn't be able to get to me before her, trust me."

"Wait," Kanon spoke, looking at her mother's face, which brightened slightly, and at her father, who leaned back and sighed, "do-does that mean."

"Yes, we approve," Mrs. Nakagawa said softly and her husband gave a small nod.

Slowly, Kanon lowered herself, sinking back into her seat, her brain feeling like mush.

"Thank you," Keima said, his hand going back into Kanon's, "we appreciate that."

"Be honest, Keima-kun," Mrs. Nakagawa said, her eyes trying to pierce him, "you predicted that outcome."

"I considered a scenario like this," Keima answered, "but I gave it around 30%."

"What scenario was the remaining 70%?"

"There were several other scenarios, though neither reached that high success rate."

"You knew!" Kanon said, punching her boyfriend on his shoulder. "You knew and you didn't tell me!"

"You see?" Keima pointed to his girlfriend while trying to intercept her arm. "This is what happens with all them girls, violence instead of a resolution with words."

"She certainly takes that from you," Mr. Nakagawa told his wife and a moment later both adults laughed, watching Kanon trying to wrench her hand out of Keima's grasp, but only resulting in getting her other arm captured as well.

"Though I have a condition," Mr. Nakagawa suddenly said, getting the attention of both teens, "Kanon's education is very important for us, so I want you to help her study and I don't mean stupid memorization of the test material."

"I'm not going into Tōdai, dad!" Kanon said. "I already have a lot on my plate!"

"Then let me help you out," Keima took Kanon's plate and placed it in front of him and started to eat.

"That's not funny!" Kanon said. "When I'm going to eat and sleep?"

Mrs. Nakagawa laughed and stood up, walking to another room. This was the first time Keima actually seemed surprised, especially as Kanon perked up.

"Wait, you mean..."

Keima raised her eyebrow at her, but Kanon didn't manage to answer, as Mrs. Nakagawa was back, carrying some flat box.

"Now, seeing how the dinner is done, I say we play our favorite game. You like games, right, Keima-kun?" she said as she placed a box of Monopoly on the table.

(* * *)

"Well, that went better than I expected," Keima said two hours later, before turning to Kanon, "are you sure it's okay for you to be here?"

"I'm only walking you to a bus stop," Kanon answered.

"But you'll have to walk back alone and it's late and your pare-"

"I'll be fine," Kanon interrupted.

Frankly, Keima didn't exactly understand. He doubted Kanon was sad or angry — partly because her hand was in his — but somehow he expected her to be much more... chirpy at the moment like this.

They arrived at the bus stop, which was, surprisingly, empty. Keima checked the timetable.

"Next bus will be here in 5 minutes," Keima said, "it's not a direct line and I'll have to walk after it," he turned to Kanon, "but that's okay-", he didn't say anymore, because Kanon suddenly hugged him.

Keima blinked, as Kanon buried her head in his chest.

"What's wrong?" he asked, his hands embracing her.

"Did you really mean it, back then?" Kanon asked, her voice muffled. "That you like me?"

Keima blushed slight pink.

"I did," he answered.

Kanon slowly looked up at him, her cheeks rosy, her eyes emotional, but determined.

"I love you, Keima-kun," she said.

Keima remembered this situation before: Kanon hugging him and confessing to him, right before she got stabbed by Vintage. However, unlike back then, this felt different. Even the way his face flushed in response was different right now.

In games, he was always touched by confessions. And as hard as it was to admit it to himself, he was never good at keeping calm when he was being confessed to in the real as well.

However, Kanon apparently didn't expect any verbal reply from him as she pressed her lips to his in a deep and passionate kiss, literally rendering him speechless. Well, Keima thought as he kissed her back, at least he got the answer to his previous question.

Apparently, nothing was wrong.

Finally, Kanon pulled back.

"Thank you, Keima-kun," the idol said, "yet again I dragged you into something and yet again you prove just how great a man you are... I just want you to know that you mean the world to me."

Keima opened his mouth, but Kanon put a finger to his lips.

"It's okay," Kanon said, smiling, "I have something for you," she retrieved something from her pocket.

It was a CD.

"The eighth song in this album is called 'Snow from my eyes'," the idol said, "the lyrics, the melody, the recording, I thought of you throughout making this song. Well, it's still my official song that I'll sing for everyone during concerts..." she leaned closer to him, her lips nearing his ear, "though I hope, someday I'll make a song that's only for your ears."

As if on cue, the bus rolled by them and Kanon let go, walking away a few steps, before turning back to him and blowing him a kiss.

"See you later, darling, baby!"

(* * *)

"Goodbye, Keima-kun," Kanon said as Keima got out of the car.

"Yeah, goodbye," the boy answered.

It was several days after the dinner with Kanon's parents and the summer break was nearly done. Keima and Kanon divided their together-time between studying sessions, game designing sessions and actual dating. Moreover, due to the idol's hectic schedule, Kanon was constantly overstressed and the dates and the free time she got to spend with Keima were what she needed to charge her batteries.

Of course, the dates were not happening often, but they followed a two-stage pattern. The first stage (Keima liked to call it "mobile") usually consisted of several ordinary activities, like shopping, movies or dinner (at fast food or family restaurants), usually accompanied by a lot of talking. Then, when the evening came, the second stage ("stationary"), was centered on one spot. It could be watching a sunset in a park bench or, more commonly, a trip back to Kanon's apartment. Regardless of the place, the stage was spent relatively quiet and when lips were used, it was for something else than talking. Granted, the bench scenario was mostly Kanon snuggling (and sometimes falling asleep), but the apartment had Kanon becoming more persistent and physical.

While Keima was never swayed for the "cute yellow ribbon idol" image that had Elsie captured on sight, he did have to admit: Kanon was a very honest, hard-working and earnest girl, even if a little attention-hungry. This was weird as during the "mobile" stage it was clear that Kanon wanted to visit many places and was quite persistent in getting where she wanted and it could be more than a little tiring. However, during "stationary" Kanon was relatively easy to please. Yes, the rarity of their meetings meant that the pink-haired girl would be far from satisfied with one hug or kiss, but it still didn't require much effort.

Maybe it meant Keima was just a genius when it came to figuring how to hold and kiss a girl...

...or maybe Kanon was just happy with however he held and kissed her as long as it came from him?

He wasn't sure what he thought about the second possibility. Superficially, it didn't seem like a challenge that'd satisfy the God of Conquest. In that case, why didn't it feel dull? Why did it-

"Katsuragi-kun," Keima was brought back from his thought by Okada talking to him from the driver's seat, "if you were ever interested in working with us-"

"Okada-san!" Kanon berated her manager. "We've talked about it before!"

"It's just a casual offer," Okada shrugged, "you should keep that in mind."

And with that the idol and her manager drove off, leaving Keima at his house gate.

Keima continued to look at the car for a moment, before taking out his PFP and walking towards the front door. "Tadaima," he said quietly as he entered the house and took off his shoes, without looking away from his console. He was already heading for the stairs when the door to the living room opened.

"You're finally home," Mari Katsuragi's face popped out from the doorway before she beckoned to him, her face determined, "now come here," she said, disappearing back into the living room.

Keima blinked. He remembered that day when Chihiro had forced him and his family to meet over the living room table, which had also included all of the 2-B pencils except Miyako. Keima was a bit lost how it all had happened, but the fact remained that Mari had cried that day, apologized and said that she "was misguided about her brilliant son" and that she "had the best daughter in the world". Keima could never forget the way Ayumi, Chihiro, and Yui looked throughout the exchange – their expressions ranging from teasing, smirking and holding laughter to deep emotion and tears. Eri, of course, had her face barely recognizable through her own tears.

After that day the relations between Keima, Eri and their parents improved dramatically and Mari, while strict at times, looked really proud of her son, her greatest problem that she couldn't boast about it to neighbors in detail. Of course, it didn't mean Keima could suddenly lock himself in his room and play games for weeks on end: Ayumi and Chihiro made sure of that by assuring Mari Keima would be a good boy before he could as much as speak a word.

Not that Keima had a problem with that, as he still got a considerable amount of time for gaming.

However, the bottom line was that Keima's mother didn't look at him with that biker gaze for weeks now and his danger sense starting to tingle a bit when he walked into the living room.

He pretty much expected to see Eri and his father there for something he thought was a family meeting, but it was just his mother. Her, him and a table with some papers. Some looked like bills and others were hand-written and strangely reminded him of his own conquests notes.

"Sit down", Mari told him.

"What's this about?" Keima asked, having no idea has to classify this event.

"I've been doing some calculations," Mari started after both of them were seated, "specifically the ones regarding our home budget," she rummaged through her notes, before retrieving one particular piece of paper and showing it to Keima.

"Do you know how much we spend on electricity and your games?" Mari asked him.

Keima expected that question, but it still surprised him somehow and he wasn't sure why. It wasn't like his contract with Dokurō Skull described any kind of reward. It wasn't as if Keima wanted to be hailed as the world savior and expected to be exempted from bills or taxes. It actually made sense: if his mother thought he was living more in the real, then she'd also expect for him to game less.

Except it didn't sit well with him.

"I know," he stated, "but it's not like my spending has increased, so why-"

"Your gaming market might be booming, but the rest of Japan is not faring so perfectly," Mari told him, "the costs of water, electricity, hell, even waste removal had increased. The only thing that is getting cheaper is real estate, though not fast enough," Keima opened his mouth, but Mari continued without letting him speak, "this also means increased costs of running the café. I've been avoiding this for a long time, but I'll need to increase the prices myself and I don't know if I'll be able to even afford the investments I planned."

Keima barely blinked on the outside, but on the inside he wasn't so composed. He took some papers from the table and started to analyze them. It took him less than a minute, but he could already see Mari's point. If they were lucky this could be just a false alarm, but they could also be looking at increasing inflation rates.

And, there was one more thing that was much more obvious. The Katsuragi family was now four people, not three and he very much doubted Eri's reality-warping had accounted for her own expenses.

In other words, Mari was right.

"Okay, I see your point," Keima admitted, feeling tired. Was it from the date or from what he expected to hear in a moment? "So what are your conclusions? Do you want me to stop buying games or using my 6 screens?"

Frankly, he expected "and" instead of "or".

"What I want is for you to _contribute_ ," Mari told him, "your games are not a problem as long as you can afford them."

Well, this wasn't as bad as he expected, though far from perfect. "I see."

"Why do you sound as if was sending you to work in a quarry or something," Mari said.

"I'm sorry," Keima said, "I have schoolwork, my games, girls visiting me almost daily, an idol girlfriend, her manager wanting to hire me as a miracle-working slaving horse, and I have some... additional stuff with Kanon."

"What additional stuff?" Mari asked, her eyes narrowing, "don't tell me you and her-"

"Before you jump to any conclusions," Keima interrupted, deciding it was better to spill the beans than let his mother insinuate new stuff, "Kanon wanted to make a galge with her songs and I'm helping with the design."

Mari was quiet for a moment, looking at her son with a weird expression.

"Excellent," she said after a moment.

"Yes, so... wait, what?" Keima asked, surprised.

"That might work perfectly with my idea."

"Wait, you want me to go find a part-time job, right?" Keima asked. "How does that work perfectly with me helping Kanon?"

Mari didn't come up some outrageous idea, right? Like making him marry Kanon and leech of her income or something?

"Well, in a way I want you to work part-time or at the very least bring some money home, but it certainly wouldn't be working in a quarry," Mari paused for a moment, "though knowing you, you'd actually put more effort into it than many laborers do."

"Are you remotely close to the point?" Keima asked, his confusion fueling his impatience. He didn't like knowing or understanding less than his mother. "What is that idea of yours!?"

Mari smiled "I'm glad you asked," she pulled out another set of notes, looking less messy, like final drafts of some grand scheme.

"Well, the truth is I found several ways for you to earn money through your hobby."

Keima looked at her, his eyes widened.

"First, you could use your 'Fallen God' website," Mari looked at the first note, "like have a subscribing system or restricted access to some games walkthroughs."

"My website is for all the lost lambs," Keima said, already not liking the idea, "it should be free for everyone."

"Not a problem," Mari turned over the note, "in that case you could establish a donation system, where you'll update when a certain amount of money is paid. It doesn't matter if it's paid by everyone visiting or just one person – that way even if someone doesn't pay they might still be able to view the site."

"But someone still has to pay," Keima said. His voice was calm, masking his surprise. He was surprised that his mother had thought about this enough to be prepared if he refused the first scenario. He glanced at the untouched notes still on the table.

"Then you can make a completely voluntary donation system," Mari said, not looking fazed at all by his objections, "if no-one will pay then that's that... but I'm pretty sure a lot of your lambs would want to support you!"

Keima was silent for a moment. Then he decided on a probing event.

"And if I don't want to do that?"

"Then I have other ideas," Mari grabbed another piece of paper, "you could record and post your gaming sessions and let's plays on Yuutube."

Keima blinked. Since when does his mother know what a "let's play" was?

"Actually, instead of doing offline let's plays, you could stream your gaming. You have several computers already, so you'd have the hardware part out of the way without any additional investments."

Keima didn't speak.

"There are so many ways to go about this," Mari continued, not even noticing the lack of response, "you could make game reviews, set world records for speedruns, accept official challenges. You can probably come up with more ideas than me. My point is simple: the family could use your contribution to the home budget and I'm suggesting you contribute by doing what you love and what you're the best at," Mari smiled.

Keima still didn't answer, trying to wrap his head around the idea of his mother praising him and calling his gaming skill the best in the world.

Frankly, even he thought that maybe, just maybe she was overestimating him.

"And the thing you said about helping Kanon-chan in game designing," Mari said, "it doesn't have to be much, but I want you to be paid for your contribution and be credited for it."

"I'm surprised you didn't just have my work at the café..." Keima said after a few moments.

"Oh, I'm sorry, but that particular job opening is already taken," Mari said.

"By who?" Keima asked though he had a very good idea.

"By your dear sister," Mari said smiling, "I talked to her earlier today... so what do you think?"

Keima thought for a moment.

"Well, monetizing some of my gaming shouldn't be too difficult," he said finally, "I'll need a day or two to think about it. Though don't expect too much," he added when he saw a beaming smile on his mother's face.

"I understand," Mari said, "now, I think you should take a bath and go to sleep my son, you must be tired."

(* * *)

Keima was lying in his bed, one hand behind his head, staring at the ceiling and thinking where life had led him to.

He was the God of Conquest, unrivaled in the art of conquering girls in games, which accounted for the great majority of his life. Then he had become affiliated with Hell. Then a number of people had learned about more than he ever thought they could learn and those people were now his friends and a significant part of his life.

Then he'd gotten a _real_ girlfriend, who had convinced him to reveal the truth to their parents. Her parents wanted him to help her study and his mother wanted him to earn money from his hobby.

He realized Chihiro was right. This was so different from himself from several years back and also completely not what he had expected to become if he gave to the real. If he was no longer the former, not really becoming the latter, then what was he now?

He turned to his nightstand and picked two objects from there: in his right hand was his trusty PFP and in his left was the CD Kanon gave him. His perfect virtual world and the imperfect real world.

He had always seen them as contradictions: he couldn't stay in one world without sacrificing something from the other. But maybe, with enough effort... with the right attitude and right people around him... maybe, maybe he'd be able to live in both.

He put the console and the CD away, turned off the light and closed his eyes.

He had a lot to do tomorrow.

 **(* * *)**

 **As you can see, some important things happened here and I hope you're glad of those developments.**

 **So first, we have the dreadful dinner, which turns into a salad-filled battlefield, but Keima stands his ground, saying that if he can't convince Kanon to not date him, they the parents can't either. The most important part of the dinner, however, is Keima admitting he likes Kanon. After that we have parents agreeing for Keima to date Kanon, as long as he helps her study and the deal is sealed with a game of Monopoly (and I do think Keima managed to collect all the money in this one :P).**

 **Then we have Kanon walking Keima to the bus stop, where she gets emotional, thanks him and confesses her love (not really a surprise at this point) and also gives Keima CD with "** **Snow from my eyes" inspired by him. From the Kanon's songs I haven't referenced yet (and which aren't planned for other parts of the story) this one seemed like the one which is the best suited: indirectly mentions Keima, is slow compared to normally lively Kanon songs and just speaks of Kanon kinda recovering her memories, so it's nice. I also want to thank Sir Sleeps-a-lot for helping me to make the song choice. You're the best. :)  
**

 **Then, the worst part of the chapter comes, which is a fairly short, but jarring time skip. Nonetheless, it brings us to the second very important part of the chapter, where Mari confronts Keima about home/gaming expenses and suggests Keima starts to somehow earn money through his hobby. Let's see what Keima's response to that will be in the next chapter. :P**

 ** **Also: "Yuutube" was spelled like that on purpose.****

 **Anyway, I hope you liked this chapter, if so then please drop a review. If you didn't like it, please tell me why. Also I want to thank everyone who supported my by reading, faving, following or reviewing. You guys are great. :)**

 **Here are responses to the latest reviews:**

 **UzumeofGamindustri:** thank you very much, glad you like the chapter! I laughed at the idea of Apollo helping with the show and screwing up xD.

 **DarkZeta:** I seriously cannot thank you enough for your review, thought and opinion. I'm honored. I'll keep writing and at the same time I want to encourage you, and everyone else for that matter, to support the fandom as well with reviews, favs and follows. Also, be sure to check some other authors in the KamiNomi fanfiction, there are some very good authors, both recently and formerly active.

 **Ghost Man:** you're welcome, the preamble is something I should've added ages ago. I'm very happy you liked the chapter. Yes, the first time mom (or moms actually) found out. Yup, Keima's mouth is to be feared :P. Heh, Kanon ws definitely something in that chapter, but Keima was nothing to sneeze at either. Keima Katsuragi has just accepted reality, the world will self-destruct in 3... 2... 1... BOOM! :P Oh, yes, I totally plan for Haqua to have her own story in this :). Yup, Mari has to come to terms that she's just a simple former-biker cafe owner, while her son has Hell and Heaven at his (limited) disposal. Though he also gets hit more often than her :P. Yup, no idea where life is going to take Keima, but he can end up high. If he wants, that is :P.

 **ZelgadisGW:** Shishishishi! yup, status quo is gone, bye bye! :D I'm also happy of this development, though I'm very unsure about KanonNomi rising to the level of MioNomi, at least in my opinion. We'll see, I guess. As for Chihiro, I don't think it's that she's good at figuring people. I think it's more that Chihiro, being a regular person, is able to notice what's unusual and unique about Keima, what he's not fully able to see himself (at least not in that context). Chihiro also knows the mundane parts life more, so she has more expertise with dealing with the real. Anyway, thank you for your review. :)

 **El Sasori69:** heh, I take it you're not fully happy with what happened. It's true the New Hell could erase the parents' memories, but let's hope that won't happen :P. As for Mari, everyone can have their own headcanon, but in my opinion Eri is not a fake daughter. She didn't just change people's memories, she altered the reality and herself to _really_ be Mari's daughter. Mari just learned that there was a reality when they weren't family and also Mari learned the true origin of Eri. Though, as you know by now, having read the above chapter, the family is okay now and Mari accepted the facts, even sending Eri to help with the home budget by working in the cafe. I hope this and next chapters will be more enjoyable for you. I'm always glad to read your reviews, so don't hesitate to state your opinion, even if you're criticizing me.

 **Red Glasses:** I'm happy you like my portrayal of Kanon so much! I didn't think it'd be viewed as the most compelling route. Honestly, I personally don't think this chapter was more well-written than usual. Maybe the previous chapters weren't as good, because writing Kanon is problematic for me and this chapter just clicked more. This is especially, 'cause it took me long to write this and, as usual, I improvised here and there and had to stitch things together, so it's kinda miracle the dialogue is good. I hope you also liked this chapter. As for Shiori, I touched upon that at the top author's note. Sorry if this disappoints you, but we _will_ get to ShioriNomi.

 **Big Bad Beowolf:** thank you very, very much for your compliments! Kanon can be very persuasive, can't she? :P Lol, just imagined "Ayukawa  & Kosaka therapy company" xD. I hope you enjoyed the chapter with the parents as well. :)

 **fss The Red Devil:** thank you very much for your thoughts. I've sent you a detailed response in PM, here's just a short version. I do agree with your points to some extent and I'll think of alternate approaches for the future. Unfortunately, KanonNomi is going as it is, mostly due to difficulty with writing Keima, difficulty with writing Kanon and the fact that I improvise a lot. Anyway, I hope you'll enjoy this story anyway. Be sure o share your thoughts on this chapter too!

 **Sir Sleeps-a-lot:** thank you very much, your reviews are always a joy to read :). Now that you mention it, it's really interesting that Kanon and Eri messed up, Keima warned them and now he's the one who has to help them out xD. You're right, re-explaining the known stuff would've been tedious and I just didn't want to write that, so I left it for the readers imaginations. Too bad you lost the immediate reactions of the parents though :P. Well, I think Keima did emphasize he was forced to do stuff and there might be worse stalkers Kanon had to deal before, so maybe it's not that much shock to her parents. Laughing at Kanon being _triggered_ (get it? :P) by you calling Chihiro best girl xD. Yup, status quo is gone and it'll probably be worse become it'll get better, but Kanon and Keima will manage. I hope. Loved the ending joke. You should watch yourself during the next review ;).

 **That's it for now, my dear readers! Stay tuned for the next chapter and please remember to support the fandom!**

 **See you next time!**


	16. Flag 79: The rumor mill

**Hello everyone, I'm back!**

 **It took me almost 2 and half months to update this and I'm sorry for that.**

 **Not much more to say for now, maybe except that this chapter is very specific, so I apologize in advance, as there are at least 2 things here that some of you might dislike. We'll see.  
**

 **(* * *)**

 ** **Previously on The World Kanon Only Knows:****

 ** **Keima and Kanon are invited to dinner with Kanon's parents. The dinner seems to be off to a bad start as Kanon's parents are not happy about him dating their daughter. Keima stays his ground though and admits he likes Kanon, after which it turns out the parents more or less approve of the relationship.****

 ** **Keima and Kanon continue to meet for studying, game designs and dates, going steady. As the summer break comes to an end, Mari, who is by now reconciled with her son, talks to**** ** ** ** **Keima, suggesting he should contribute to the home budget, preferably by using his gaming hobby.********

 ** ** ** **Now, let us see what new surprises await in the new term!********

 ** ** ** **Enjoy!********

 **(* * *)**

"Have a good day and study hard!" Mari waved her hand as Keima and Eri left Café Grandpa and started walking to school.

"Bye, mom!" Eri waved back, before turning to her brother. "It's nice to go to school again, right nii-sama?"

"Let's see if you'll be so happy about school when the mid term tests come," Keima said, fingers pressing buttons on his PFP.

"It's fine!" Eri said. "Last year it wasn't that hard and after that, we'll have the entire week of freedom!"

"We're third years now," he reminded her, "which means we'll have more tests and final exams preparation and almost no free time before the dance festival itself," he explained and watched as Eri froze before turning to him, panic on her face.

So she didn't think about this? She didn't realize that not only would this year much be much harder and the exams more important, but she was also supposed to help in the café: something she might like to do, but with all of this together she was bound to end up overworked.

Not that any of it surprised Keima, but it made plan A (aka "let Eri figure it out herself") infeasible, so he'd have to move to plan B.

They arrived at school (Eri a little less sure of herself than before) and walked through the corridors when Keima suddenly heard his name being called.

"Katsuragi-san!"

What now, Keima thought, a bit surprised at the suffix. Who calls him like that, especially at school? He reckoned only Diana did nowadays. When he turned around, however, he noticed a highschool girl he did not know.

"My name is Marika Uchida," the girl said and bowed slightly, "I'm from the Mai-High newspaper."

Keima was not surprised. That wasn't the first time he had met someone from the Mai-High newspaper this year, although the previous times there were different students. And of course, all the previous times were about one thing.

They wanted some juicy gossip about Kanon.

Good thing they came to him first instead of Eri. That way he had been able to prepare his sister for when the questions would fly her way and they had. It was before the summer break though and with everything that had happened recently, he had completely forgotten about this annoying issue.

"If you want to know anything about Kanon Nakagawa, then I suggest you ask her personally," he said not bothering to keep a polite tone and intending to turn around when the girl spoke again.

"It's not about Kanon-chan," she said, "it's about you, Katsuragi-san."

Keima held back a groan. That was the same thing!

"Look, I'm not telling you anything about my relationship with Kanon," he said.

"You misunderstand, you don't have to say anything about Kanon," the girl said, "the topic of the article is you."

Both Eri and Keima blinked before looking at each other.

"Me?" Keima repeated. "What about me?"

"Well, you've been known in this school for some time," the girl said with a little awkward look on her face, "you might not be as famous as Kanon-chan, but you've certainly appear at school more often and, quite frankly, no student has ever managed to make the teachers let him do so much so easily and with impunity," the girl hesitated, "therefore, there's been quiet a few rumors. I think it's fair to say the students would like to know a little more about Keima Katsuragi they heard so much about before."

"As you said, they've heard a lot about me before," Keima said, "there's plenty to learn about the otamega by word of mouth."

"Well, but is what they've heard really true?" the girl asked. "Also, I'm sure people will be interested to hear about your friends."

"Friends?" he repeated.

"Oh yes," the girl looked at her notes, "you seem to be quite friendly with Takahara-san and Kosaka-san from your class. Also with Shiomiya-san from class 3-C. People from 3-A claim you're the only male student who Kujō-san ever talks to. Not to mention Goidō-san."

"Why do you think they're my friends?" Keima asked.

"So they're not then?" the girl immediately livened, bringing a pen to her notepad.

"Why should I disclose my personal matters with you?" he asked.

"Forgive me, but you never seemed like someone who cares all that much about his own privacy, Katsuragi-san," the girl said.

"Well, I do," luckily the bell for the beginning of the class sounded, "excuse me, I've got to go."

With this, he took Eri's arm and walked away.

(* * *)

"Good morning!" Eri said as they entered the classroom. Keima wasn't sure if she was greeting half the classroom or if it was directed just at Chihiro, Ayumi and Miyako, but Eri just couldn't keep her voice down. Well, there were few people present anyway.

"Mornin' Eri!" Ayumi, who was the earliest bird among them, replied cheerfully. Keima was pretty sure that with the upcoming tests her good mood will quickly change, but for now, she was probably happy to be able to meet her friends on a regular basis again.

"Good morning," Miyako said with her usual calm smile.

"Morning," Chihiro said, barely turning away from her magazine.

Some things never change it seems.

"Mornin' Keima," Ayumi turned to him now, her expression was still cheerful, similar to the time when she had dumped her rooftop cleaning duty on him almost a year and half ago. However back then she was smiling because of her general positive disposition to everything (and because she was trying to sweet talk him into the cleaning duty), but now she was smiling at him as well. What was even more interesting, a year and half ago, the idea of answering her greeting would be alien to Keima, disturbing even. However, right now it felt like not answering her was what wouldn't sit well with him.

Some things apparently do change.

"Yeah, good morning," he answered, "to all of you."

"Good morning, Katsuragi," Miyako replied, as if it was a common occurrence. Chihiro also answered, not looking away from her magazine, except for when Keima sat down, her eyes shifted to him. Keima continued to play on his PFP. He had still some time left before class and every gaming second was precious.

Soon more people started to arrive and Keima tensed briefly, fearing that now when it was August and the summer break was over, the hate of Kanon's fans might have resurfaced and that the annoying bullying will start again. However, nothing like that happened. Keima was glad, as it seemed that everything was back to how it was before Kanon's official announcement of their relationship. Perhaps, he could go on with the last year of high school in peace?

Ayumi, feeling her body guard role might be needed again, kept watch, but she also saw no signs of hostility.

"Morning everyone," Mobuko Ikarino walked in, sending a general greeting, as she was on good or amicable terms with almost everyone in the class and a chorus of voices answered her.

However, only Ayumi noticed the way Mobuko stopped briefly, her expression hardening when her eyes fell on Keima.

(* * *)

"You want me to do what again?" Chihiro turned back from the cakes she had been appreciating through the glass.

It was a lunch break and Keima followed Chihiro to a shopping district a little distance from the school grounds, where Chihiro ran her errand to prepare stuff for the light music club meeting. Which could be summed up as "buying meat buns and other snacks".

"Convince Miyako to tutor Eri on a weekly basis," Keima repeated calmly. When Chihiro continued to look at him, he sighed. "Don't look at me like that. You know how abysmal Eri's grades can get and it's not like she can just ignore high school and go back to Hell now. She needs a proper education."

"She's already got one," Chihiro said, going back to cakes, "she attended school in Hell, right?"

"One that Earth's authorities know nothing about," Keima reminded her, "she needs to do well on her exams."

"I don't see how is that my problem," Chihiro noted.

"She's your friend."

"So is Ayumi," Chihiro said, "and Yui. And Miyako. And Kanon," Chihiro paused for a moment as if she realized something, "I have a lot of friends now, actually."

"That's great," Keima said, "but it's different."

"How so?"

Keima sighed and took Chihiro's arm, dragging her to the side, despite her attempts to get back to the cakes. People were starting to look at them anyway.

"Let me break this down for you," Keima started in a whisper, ignoring the angry look Chihiro was giving him, "Eri has no idea how difficult the exams will be. She's very happy-go-lucky normally, but if we don't do something, she'll be crushed by the exams. I'm actually pretty sure she had help with the Hellian exams as well. Also, mom is going to have her work at the café, so she won't have much time to study."

"Okay, I'll bite," Chihiro said, "why don't just tutor her yourself?"

"You think I didn't think about it?" Keima said. "Tutoring someone to pass one English test to get a club room and tutoring someone to _actually_ understand general high school exam material are on a different levels. Also don't forget Eri got only 45% on that English test."

"That's because you gave her little help," Chihiro noted.

"Which means I might not be the best person to teach her after all. Besides I'll be too busy anyway."

"Hooo?" Chihiro raised her eyebrow, "what does the great Otoshiigami has to do anyway? Aside from playing games," she paused for a moment, "you didn't accept another weird contract, did you?"

"Don't be ridiculous," Keima snorted, "let's just say mom tasked me with something. It _is_ related to gaming though. Also, I'll most likely have to teach other girls for the exams as well," Keima added when Chihiro opened her mouth.

"Why Miyako though?" Chihiro asked. "Can't you ask someone else? I'm sure some of the girls will be very glad to help you."

"I will ask Haqua and Nagase as well, but they can be overbearing too, so I want their help to be limited," Keima said, "Miyako is the only one who is intelligent, patient enough and is Eri's friend."

"Why don't you ask Miyako yourself then?" Chihiro said. "Why follow me for the lunch break and waste my time?"

"Oh, the bad otamega asking a classmate for help. That's certainly going to work well," Keima said sarcastically, "but... if the bass guitarist were to ask herself and the band leader would support her request with her authority... Miyako's a nice girl. She likes being in the band and she likes you and Eri. I'm sure she wouldn't refuse... and I did buy you meat buns today," he added, pointing to Chihiro's bag.

Chihiro groaned.

"You're a sly manipulating bastard, you know that?" she said. "I hope someone followed us and will tell Kanon you're spending a lunch break with another girl, buying her food."

"If Kanon were to really make a problem out of that then me and her wouldn't be dating," Keima said, "so, I take it as a yes."

"I'll try, but no promises."

"Thank you."

(* * *)

For more than a week things proceeded relatively calmly. Keima and Kanon met for their first study session, though Kanon was clearly displeased that she had to spend her time with Keima studying and Apollo was, obviously, in full agreement. Maybe that was the reason why the idol attended school two times and both of those times she seemed really happy. Apparently having Keima and school – two of the things she enjoyed – was putting her in a good mood.

Chihiro stayed true to her word and managed to convince Miyako to help Eri study. On a little less bright side, Yui had offered to help Eri as well and invited herself over to Keima's house, an obvious attempt to get close to him. Yui was also smart about it, targeting him on the days when Kanon was not nearby. Keima himself was torn between doing something about this and just letting Kanon and Yui resolve it themselves. He wasn't too keen on stepping between two competing women, armed with anti-Keima weapons ranging from physical contact to stun guns.

On a particular Wednesday Keima was walking to class with Eri as usual. His gaze was fixed on the console in his hands and he had earpieces on. Eri was quiet for once as she spent a lot of time yesterday on her homework and was now revising what she had learned for class.

Both of them were too absorbed in their own thing to pay attention to their surroundings. And even if they weren't they were unlikely to notice some stares directed their way mixed with hushed whispers.

(* * *)

They arrived at their classroom and Keima sat in his assigned seat for more gaming time. He barely got through several screens of dialogue, when a figure appeared over him and a meek voice spoke.

"Umm... Katsuragi-san."

With his earpieces on Keima thought he had misheard or that the person was only by his desk and actually talking to Eri, but it couldn't be right: pretty much everyone in his class called Eri by her given name.

Keima looked up and, sure enough, one of his female classmates was there, looking back at him. The only times when his classmates were talking to him was when they were bullying him or when they needed to pass him a handout or something (though they'd usually just put it on his desk or on his head). The girl in front of him wasn't looking like she was about to do either. Actually, she looked a bit scared. Keima didn't remember ever talking with this girl at all, though he had seen her face recently, but he couldn't remember where.

"Ano," she held a book in her hands stiffly, as if unsure whether to bring it to her face or show it to Keima, "I'm sorry for interrupting you... but I was wondering if you could help me with this," the girl kinda gestured to her book and Keima noticed it was the English textbook.

Keima looked at her blankly, making the girl flustered further.

"Kodama-sensei made me do extra credit and I have a repeated English test the day after tomorrow," she explained, obviously embarrassed. It was then when Keima realized where he remembered her from: her name was Haruka Fukuda and last week Kodama has shouted at her in front of the entire class. "So... um, I desperately need a tutor."

"You mean me?" Keima said, confused. He saw Ayumi, Chihiro and Eri look at his desk, confusion on their faces mixed with curiosity.

"Yes, because Katsuragi-san is very good at English," the girl named Haruka said, probably thinking he didn't understand why she was asking him.

Well, he actually didn't. Yes, he was good at English, but it still didn't make sense. He looked to the side as if looking for assistance, but quickly regretted it: the looks Ayumi and Chihiro were giving him seemed to say 'be a good classmate and help her'.

Thankfully, there was a third option.

"That's right," he admitted, "but just because I have good grades doesn't mean I can teach someone to have the same results."

"But you helped Ayumi-san," Haruka pointed at the runner.

For a heartbeat Keima stopped, surprised. Then he considered just turning back and ignoring this flag altogether, but he knew he should get to the bottom of this. So he asked.

"Where did you hear that?"

"Ayumi-san has told me herself," Haruka said, before turning to the runner, "right?"

"Well, yes," Ayumi said, not looking at Keima.

"You see, Katsuragi-san," Haruka turned back to him, "if you can help Ayumi-san ace the test then you can help me ace it too."

"Ace it?" Keima asked.

"Yeah," Haruka said, looking a bit lost, as if Keima was underdeveloped or making fun of her, "her English score was like 35% and she had gotten 100% after you tutored her... Actually, everyone you tutored got a hundred," she added.

"Wait, I didn't tell you that!" Ayumi got closer, looking embarrassed and making Eri walk out of the way to not be knocked over. "How do you know this?"

Haruka blinked, before answering. "I've read about it."

"Read?" Ayumi asked what Keima and Chihiro thought. "Read where?"

"In the Mai-High newspaper."

Ayumi looked at the girl for a few more seconds, before running out of the classroom in a blink of an eye. Keima could bet he knew where she was going.

Still, what the Hell? How did stuff like that appear in a school newspaper? It's not like-

He paused, noticing a motion – or rather lack of thereof – to the side. Chihiro had her head buried in her magazine, though Keima was dead certain she wasn't reading it. She also appeared really small, as if she wanted to sink into her seat to hide. She sunk even further into her chair when she sensed a dreadful aura coming from Keima.

"So," Haruka said, bringing Keima's attention back to her, "are you going to help me?"

Keima was saved from having to answer this when the door to the classroom suddenly opened and Nikaidō walked in.

"Everyone, get to your seats!" the teacher announced. The motionless students suddenly started to move around in panic, searching for their assigned seats and only now had Keima realized that everyone had been listening to this conversation.

Haruka hesitated, but fear of Nikaidō won, so she went to her seat as well.

A few seconds later Ayumi ran back into the classroom. Well, landed or crashed were more appropriate terms, as the runner ended up knocking a few students off their feet and earning a lecture from Nikaidō. This incident helped to resolve some of the tension and things returned to normal momentarily. Still, Keima noticed that he had correctly guessed where Ayumi had ran off to.

In one of her hands there was the latest issue of the Maijima Private High School school newspaper.

(* * *)

"All right, all right, I did it," Chihiro admitted.

It was the lunch break and Keima, Eri, Chihiro and Ayumi were in the main building of Mai-High. It was the building where teacher offices were located, which meant no sane student would wander here during this time. On the other hand, students heading for the Demeter bread stand often passed by the main building, so they had to move further into the halls to avoid being detected.

Here they could talk without anyone seeing them or eavesdropping on them.

"You agreed to an interview for an article in school newspaper about me?" Keima clarified.

"It's not exactly like that!" Chihiro defended. "It's just that this girl came to and asked if I was a friend of the otamega... well, she was kinda badmouthing you, so I told her that she was wrong. Then she asked if you tutored us."

"And you told her?" Keima asked. "Why didn't you just let her badmouth me?"

"Because it wasn't right," Chihiro said, "you're not like she said you are... you never were," she added, averting here eyes.

Ayumi seemed to agree, not looking at Keima either. Keima had enough of this vagueness.

"Give me that newspaper," he told Ayumi, extending his arm.

"I bought it, so I'm reading it first!" the runner said, as if afraid to let the others see it.

"You don't like to read anyway!" Keima reminded her, trying to get the newspaper, but Ayumi moved it out of his reach... and almost had it snatched from her hands by Chihiro.

"I like to read!" the band leader said but groaned when Ayumi pulled the newspaper back. "Oh, c'mon!"

"It's about me!" Keima said, lunging forward.

Ayumi avoided the direct attack... but then Chihiro started to tickle her with a maniac smile on her face.

"Noooo!" Ayumi cried out and fell down, letting go of the newspaper. Keima and Chihiro went for it, but before either could catch it, Eri grabbed it and started to browse through the pages, while the remaining three lied on the floor, defeated.

"The mystery of Keima Katsuragi," Eri read the title of the article before she continued onto the introduction.

"The Seven Mysteries is a common set of high schools rumors about strange, paranormal or legendary occurrences. Usually it turns out to be nothing more but a number of pranks made by senior students to scare the freshmen. Of course, Mai-High has its own set of mysteries. Some say there are ghosts in the theater building. There are rumors about a student being spirited away during club activities. Students that are crossdressing. Students strong and fast beyond comprehension. There are blue haired geniuses. And then there's Keima Katsuragi."

"No idea who that is? Sure you do, but you probably know him under his moniker 'otamegane', which made him pretty infamous. One could ask, what's so mysterious about a good-for-nothing gross nerd who only plays games and consciously prefers them over everything else? Not going to lie to you: months ago I'd say the same thing. Up until the point when Kanon-chan, yes, that Kanon Nakagawa, announced that she was dating Keima Katsuragi. Yes, that Keima Katsuragi. It was then that most of us realized that the two of them were in the same class. But it doesn't explain why would a national idol choose to date the weirdest weirdo of the school. Some thought it was an elaborate joke or some misunderstanding, but after several months no-one can deny it: Kanon-chan and Katsuragi are indeed dating, as they've been spotted together."

"Though the question is: why? Why would Kanon-chan want to date someone infamous like that? Of course, it's common for celebrities to date someone they don't like for money or fame. Thus, it'd make sense for Katsuragi to date Kanon-chan, but not the other way around. Maybe Kanon-chan was forced into this? It'd somewhat fit the rumors surrounding Keima Katsuragi. What rumors you ask? While making research for this article we made sure to collect those. According to the students of Mai-High, and mind that those students are often outside of his class, grade or even high school, apparently, Keima Katsuragi games all day long, has abysmal grades and had to repeat class. There are even some who believe he lusts after his sister..."

"I'm not!" Keima all but screamed.

"...aside from that we've been told he calls down UFOs from the rooftop, calls himself 'god' and spreads some kind of religion," Elsie read when suddenly Ayumi snatched the paper from her hands.

"Are the rumors true though?" Ayumi read as she found where Eri stopped. "Is Kanon-chan being forced into a relationship? Well, where to ask better than at the source? Quite predictably, Keima Katsuragi didn't provide any answers, so we turned to Kanon-chan instead."

"That's enou-" Keima said, but Chihiro put him into a grip and said with a smirk, "keep on reading, what did Kanon-chan say?"

"We found the national idol when she was attending school and managed to get an exclusive interview (to see the full interview go to page 3). As you may know, Kanon-chan is not very fond of interviews and she was even less eager to talk about her relationship. In spite of that, we did manage to get some information and, believe it or not, Kanon-chan does not think of Keima Katsuragi as gross, good-for-nothing otamega. Quite the opposite, Kanon-chan described Keima Katsuragi as 'a great, strong and hard-working person'. The way she looked when she said so, made it pretty clear she truly believed it. Thus, either Keima Katsuragi had cast some kind of spell on her using his rumored powers or Kanon-chan truly likes him," Ayumi read before giggling, "so, have you cast a spell on Kanon-chan?" she asked.

"Gimme that!" Keima lunged for the newspaper, but Ayumi avoided with a smile, passing the newspaper to Chihiro.

"It would seem that there is more to Keima Katsuragi than meets the eye," Chihiro read out loud with glee, while Ayumi literally held Keima back, "thus, we went to try and uncover the mystery that is Keima Katsuragi. Of course, the first stop was the 3-B classroom. Most of the students didn't have much new to say besides 'gaming freak' and 'Kanon's boyfriend'. However, we did learn something. As surprising as it gets, Keima Katsuragi is the top of his class and that's with him spending all his time playing games. Could the rumors be caused by mere jealousy?" at this Chihiro paused briefly, before her expression brightened even more. "A random student's opinion might not be very reliable, but it's harder to ignore when it comes from someone popular like Ayumi Takahara," at the mention of her name Ayumi perked up, "known to be a straightforward person, she had grudgingly, but plainly labelled Keima Katsuragi a genius. This is also proved by numerous test papers on which the good-for-nothing, as he was sometimes called, scored 100%, one after another. As if that wasn't achievement enough, he also helped several of his classmates (Kanon-chan included) study for one English test, which resulted in each of his tutees scoring 100%..."

"But I didn't score 100%!" Eri complained.

"...which is especially impressive in the case of Ayumi Takahara, who had scored 35% before."

At this point Ayumi blushed madly, completely ignoring Keima's fruitless attempts to get free. "H-how did they know this!?"

"L-let's move onto the people from the other classes," Chihiro read out after a short pause, now looking less composed than before.

"W-wait, you're skipping something, aren't you?" Ayumi said.

"Of course I'm not," Chihiro said, but Ayumi literally whizzed past her, grabbing the newspaper.

"Come back you," Chihiro went after Ayumi, but the latter just started to run around, keeping out of her best friend's reach as she found out the correct paragraph.

"Our next step was visiting Chihiro Kosaka, another classmate of Keima Katsuragi, and the head of the Light Music club. Kosaka-san was much more forthcoming."

"You were the one who told them about my score, didn't you?" Ayumi stopped reading and passed the newspaper to Eri and looked at Chihiro, who suddenly started going backwards.

"It was just a little bit..." Chihiro defended.

"We didn't even have to ask questions and Kosaka-san provided us with a lot of details that helped further our research," Eri started reading again.

"Ok, so I told them more than just a little bit, no reason to get angryyyyyy," Chihiro cried out as she ran, being chased by both Ayumi and Keima now.

"It is interesting to note that both girls were a little flustered when asked about Keima Katsuragi's dark side", Eri continued to read, not paying attention to Chihiro's plight, "which implies there is some truth to rumors or at the very least both of the girls believed them at some point and are now ashamed of that."

"Our research didn't end there, however. We also surveyed a large number of students from other classes. The vast majority of them didn't say anything new – just more rumors and confusion. Nonetheless, we learned a few hints, which led us to several students who had more to say."

"Wait," Keima said, remembering what the girl from the newspaper, Marika Uchida, had told him before, "they don't mean..."

"When we moved to the class next door, 3-A, we weren't expecting much, but results were interesting. I bet some of you have heard of Tsukiyo Kujō, a beautiful recluse, who doesn't really talk to people and looks down on them. However, her classmates claim she had changed some time ago and is a little more open with regards to people. What that has to do with Keima Katsuragi? According to our sources, he's about the only male student who Kujō-san readily interacts with. Even if they're not very close, it's still surprising. When confronted about it, Kujō-san just ignored us."

"That's when we got to meet another 3-A student, who you definitely heard about: Mio Aoyama. When she overheard our conversation with Kujō-san, she harshly recommended that 'commoners shouldn't stick their noses into other peoples' business'. When we questioned her about her connection with Keima Katsuragi, she took out a horse whip, so we had to backtrack."

"However, the biggest surprise in 3-A came from yet another of the school celebrities: Yui Goidō, who openly stated that Keima Katsuragi was a great man and that she loved him."

"Of course, she'd say that," Chihiro commented, while Keima face-palmed.

"If you think that only class 3-A is weird, then listen to this: Keima Katsuragi is apparently in good relations with two more girls from class 3-C. The first is Shiori Shiomiya, who seemed shy at first, but with enough prodding we yet again learned that Keima Katsuragi is 'passionate, hard-working and admirable person, even if he's really weird' and that 'we shouldn't judge the book by its cover'. The second one is the newest celebrity of Mai-High: Urara Shiratori, who is friendly to everyone, but has problems fitting in, yet several people claim she was seen multiple times with Keima Katsuragi and stated that 'Katsuragi-san is certainly weird, but one cannot deny his skills and achievements'."

"What achievements?" Keima said. "Couldn't she just say nothing?"

"If that's not enough for you, we also got info that Kusunoki Kasuga, the school graduate, former head of the women karate club and the so-called Mai-High Sapphire Princess, also respected, even admired Keima Katsuragi, though reasons for that are unknown. If there's one more person, who admires him even more then the entire school agrees that it's Keima Katsuragi's own twin sister, who, as people confirmed, calls him 'god' with striking honesty. We even found out that Keima Katsuragi has admirers in our middle school."

"Looking back at all this, it might be too much to say that Keima Katsuragi has a fan club. It's also true that most of the students at our school are girls. However, even taking that into consideration, it's still weird that all the mentioned students with connections to him are female... six of which are fairly popular or straight out famous and at least two of them are either dating him or in love with him, though we cannot be sure that this list isn't larger. It's a truly shocking conclusion."

"How much more is there!?" Keima yelled, trying again to get the newspaper again, but Eri side-stepped him.

"I'm almost at the end," Eri said and continued reading, "We bet, dear reader, that you're very confused now. We don't blame you. This all seems incredible and contradicts common sense. Who to trust? Is Keima Katsuragi a creepy useless nerd as the rumors say? Does he have a secret power he controls people with? Or maybe he's just a little antisocial, but a good person that deserves the few bits of respect he's earned? I suggest you be the judges of that," Eri read and then suddenly gasped.

"W-what now?" Keima asked. "You said it was the end!"

"Ooh, it was the end, it's just that there's an ad for Kanon-chan's new song 'Your Color Love Song' under the article," Eri said. That was the last straw and Keima snatched the newspaper from her.

"Mio was right: people shouldn't stick their noses in other people's business!" he said and grabbed the newspaper in his hand, preparing to tear it to shreds.

"Hey, that's mine!" Ayumi shouted, getting the newspaper back before he could destroy it. "If you want to rip it, then buy your own!"

Keima shot her a look, but they never learned if he wanted to say anything because they heard a different voice.

"What is this ruckus?"

All four of them flinched. They knew that voice. As on command, they mechanically turned around and sure enough, Nikaidō-sensei was behind them and walking down the stairs. Ayumi, Chihiro and Eri went behind Keima as if he were a certificated anti-Nikaidō protection system or something.

"You!" Nikaidō remarked, eyes narrowing. "What are the four of _you_ doing here?"

The three girls pushed Keima in front. So he was the spokesman, huh?

"We're not doing anything," Keima said calmly as ever, "students are allowed to be here."

"Really?" Nikaidō said, eyeing them. "What could four students, three of which are known for not liking studying be doing here?"

"We came here to see one teacher," Keima said. He was certain he could lie his way out of this if he was alone. But he wasn't alone.

"Are you?" Nikaidō looked at the rest of them and Keima saw she didn't buy it. "Are you eager for another lecture on the same day, Takahara? And what are you hiding there?"

Ayumi gulped and showed her the newspaper. "It's just a school newspaper."

"I don't know what you're up to, but I'm confiscating this," she took the newspaper from Ayumi and turned to walk away, "if you have the time to fool around like that, then go study! Now, off you go!"

(* * *)

"That was uncalled for, I didn't get to read the interview about Kanon-chan," Chihiro whined two minutes later when they were going back inside the high school building, "Is Nikaidō on her period or something?"

"Maybe she just doesn't like when other girls are getting close to nii-sama," Eri wondered.

"I was _not_ getting close to him!" Ayumi moved a little bit away from Keima.

The small gesture had actually Keima thinking. It didn't matter whether the article in the newspaper was speaking the truth or not. The masses would still believe it or would at least pay more attention to him to check if the rumors and article were true. He discreetly looked around and sure, various students were glancing at him. And what they were seeing?

They were seeing him walking around with three girls!

Normally, he wouldn't care about it, but the last thing he wanted to do was give Kanon a reason to worry.

Wait, does-

"What are you going to do about her?" Ayumi asked suddenly.

"Her?" Keima looked at the runner. How did she know he was thinking about Kanon? Or maybe she was talking about getting her newspaper back from Nikaidō?

"Haruka Fukuda," Ayumi clarified, making Keima pause in thought.

"Wait, you mean?"

"The girl from our class who asked you to help her study, who else?" Ayumi clarified. "You didn't give her an answer. Are you going to help her?"

"It's just an English test," Keima said, "it's not like she's possessed by a runaway spirit. And even if she is then I'm not a part of the runaway spirit squad anymore."

"So if she was possessed by a spirit you'd let her be all depressed?" Ayumi asked, her face stiffening.

"Why can't someone else do it then? Why me?" Keima asked. "Just because she's another girl doesn't mean she's a heroi-"

"I'm not talking about her being a girl!" Ayumi said a little louder. "She's a fellow human being! You should help her out of simple decency!"

"Ano," Eri tried to go in between but was ignored. Chihiro was so far just standing there, trying to see where this was going. Will she get to see another one of Ayumi's kick land on Keima's face?

"You all seem so eager to push all that stuff on my shoulders!" Keima said back, now louder as well. "I have my own problems to deal with! I have no reason to help her!"

"You do," Ayumi said, "right now you have a chance to improve your reputation!"

Keima stopped with his mouth open, either shocked or not comprehending.

"Wha-my re-what?" he mumbled.

"Let's be real," Ayumi started, "we all know you're not Mother Teresa, but you're not like people think you are. I don't think I have to tell you, but with the article people at school will start thinking."

"And why should I care about that?" he asked.

"Because you have a chance, possibly you're only chance, to show them you're a good person. To show them that they've misjudged you!" Ayumi told him.

"Am I understanding this right?" Keima asked. "You want me to give in to the real?"

"I'm not expecting miracles," Ayumi said, making Keima snort, "but you said yourself you wanted to walk with everyone else."

"With everyone of my friends, not everyone in the world... you are expecting miracles after all," he said after a short pause.

"What about Kanon-chan?" Chihiro chipped in casually, gazing at her fingers.

"What do you mean?" Keima asked.

"You know, you might be the otamega, but you have to think about Kanon-chan now," when Keima didn't respond, she continued, "like, it's pretty certain she's going to read that article or at least have people ask her about it or look how you treat her and other people," she looked at Keima, "how do you think she'd feel if you didn't want to help a single classmate after she realized you were decent enough to actually ask you for help?"

It went quiet after that. Keima kept glaring daggers at Chihiro, who pretended nothing was happening.

"Keima?" Ayumi prodded after a longer moment... when suddenly Keima started walking in Chihiro's direction. The band leader flinched and backed up a little.

"What are you?" she asked, but it was hard to say if she was more scared or flustered. However, neither mattered as Keima just walked, no stomped, past her.

"Where is he going now?" Ayumi questioned.

"Nii-sama!" Eri whined and followed after him.

"I'll never be able to understand how his nerdy mind works," Chihiro commented before she and Ayumi started to walk too.

(* * *)

It was still lunch break when Keima entered the 3-B classroom and walked straight to his desk, retrieving a notepad and starting to write on it furiously.

"Nii-sama!" Eri cried out as she walked into the classroom a few seconds later, followed by Ayumi and Chihiro, attracting the attention of everyone in the room (except Keima).

"Chihiro-san didn't mean to-what are you doing?" Eri asked, but Keima didn't answer. Instead, he continued writing for a few more seconds and then stood up. He moved with purpose and, in a blink of an eye, he was in front of Haruka Fukuda. The girl was talking to one of her female classmates, who sensibly backed off when Keima came close, leaving Haruka face-to-face with him. The girl opened her mouth to speak, but Keima beat her to it.

"I don't have time," he said.

"Err-what?" Haruka said hesitantly, obviously confused.

"Despite what people think or say, I'm a busy person and I don't have time to tutor people," Keima explained calmly and bluntly, his eyes focused on the girl in front of him, apparently not feeling or ignoring the dreadful aura Ayumi was oozing right now. He also seemed to ignore the fact the everyone was following the conversation.

Haruka's expression fell at his answer. "I-I see, I'm sor-"

"So, I want to do this quickly and efficiently," Keima continued, "the most important thing is: you can't expect a miracle, I can't make you succeed without you putting in the effort. You have to contribute as well," as he said this, he gave Haruka his hand-written note, before continuing, "here are the things I want you to prepare. We can study for an hour after school tomorrow," with that Keima turned around, walked to his seat and sat down.

Slowly Haruka gazed down on the notes, but no-one else moved or spoke. Even the noisy annual cicadas went quiet and no sound was made until the bell signaled the end of lunch break.

(* * *)

"Good morning, Katsuragi-san!" Haruka Fukuda, a smile on her face, briefly stopped talking to her friend in order to greet Keima who had just entered the classroom.

It was a few days since she had asked Keima for help. While saying that being tutored by Keima was a very pleasant experience might be a little exaggeration, it was certainly better than the stressful way Kodama taught and, as expected, it resulted in a full success – no matter what Kodama tried, Haruka passed the extra credit test with flying colors. Since that moment her entire disposition with regards to Keima changed. Gone was an unsure and doubtful expression, replaced with a smile and a hint of admiration.

What was even weirder, the rest of his classmates more or less followed suit. No-one called him otamega anymore. No-one laughed at him or bullied him because of his relationship with Kanon. The worst he had to deal with now was teasing and people being jealous of him. In the past two days, people approached him several times, asking for opinion. One guy even asked him if he could recommend some games to him.

Moreover, someone – undoubtedly Chihiro or Eri – must've informed Kanon about everything, because Keima got an email from her, where the idol stated that "she was glad and proud that Keima-kun was getting along with everyone and got the recognition he deserved," while also reminding him that "he was her boyfriend now, so he wasn't allowed to flirt with others girl."

Knowing the darker sides of Kanon's personality and the general way the minds of scorned women worked, while washing his hands in the school bathroom, Keima vowed to not give Kanon any doubt with regards to him.

However, one more surprise awaited him as soon as he exited the bathroom.

"Katsuragi _-san,_ " he heard someone speak behind him, even though he used one of the bathrooms in the secluded part of the school. And, of course, the voice was feminine, but he didn't recognize it. He turned around expecting to see another one of his classmates. And he was right, though it still ended up as surprise.

In front of him stood Mobuko Ikarino with a facial expression that definitely wasn't unbridled joy.

Keima quickly revised what he knew about the blonde girl. She wasn't a class representative or a member of the school council, but it was easy to mistake her for those: she always ended up doing a lot of stuff. She wasn't exactly a permanently cheerful person like Ayumi or Eri, but she was a fairly normal person, except that she seemed to have a grudge against Keima and if he were honest with himself, he wasn't exactly blaming her.

"Do you need something from me?" he asked cautiously.

"I'll be blunt," Mobuko started, "I don't really like you or the way you live... I also didn't forget the way you treated me..."

Color me surprised, Keima thought sarcastically.

"...but I guess you're not as bad as I thought," she continued, speaking quickly as if she wanted to say everything before she got a chance to reconsider, "I suppose even people like you can change and there's merit to them," she tried to look at him, "I'd like to apo," she paused mid-word, obviously having trouble getting it past her lips, "look I just wanted"

"to say you're sorry, I get it," Keima said, putting her out of her misery, "but you don't have to apologize. You're free to hate me if you want," he told her, not really understanding why he was saying this, "I'm sorry as well."

That was lame, he thought. Just saying "sorry" never worked and he was only risking another punch or verbal abuse. Thus he was surprised when Mobuko just looked to the side, clearly embarrassed.

"So, the Mai-High festival is coming close," she said after a few moments, seemingly trying to change the topic. Keima blinked. She couldn't be wanting to go with him to the festival, right?

Right?

"And I remember that impossibly good coffee you've made last year," Mobuko continued.

"Ooh that," Keima sighed in relief. He supposed he could do that thing again, "I think I can mak-"

"So, I was thinking," Mobuko continued as if she didn't hear him, "we third years have it bad, because we either have to give up the festival preparation or risk less study time... you can't have both. It's just too much work and planning to do," she paused and looked troubled, though it was obviously faked, "if only there was someone creative, good at planning and managing people, someone who'd be willing to help with festival preparations for the collective good of the entire class," she pretended she was looking over the corridor, until her eyes laid on him in an obvious request.

Keima froze, unmoving for a few seconds. His first reflex was to refuse. His gaming mind told him it would be just more unneeded flags. It'd eat into his gaming time. Then he realized a lot of people he knew would want to take part in the festival and would like to meet him. Shiori. Tsukiyo. Mio. Minami. Yui. Possibly others. Another part of his mind, sounding deceptively like Ayumi, Chihiro, Eri and Urara told him that he should agree.

He imagined his mother smiling and proud face when she learned he was going to participate.

And then he imagined Kanon working together with him or walking with him throughout the school grounds on the festival night, looking happy.

"I..." he started and Mobuko perked up, "I can't promise I'd have a lot of time or that I'll be useful at all... but I'll give it a shot... I guess," he said, feeling totally out of his element and his shock only increased when he saw Mobuko smile at him.

"That's great then," she said before turning around, "I have to go now, we'll talk about the details some other time. See you later, Katsuragi-kun!"

And with that she was gone, leaving Keima standing there baffled, looking as if another devil girl dropped onto him on a rooftop all over again.

For a minute he just stood there, trying to wrap his head around everything that had happened those past several days, before he started walking, leaving the corridor as well.

A few meters behind where he stood moments before, from behind a corner a figure emerged, looking at Keima's retreating back.

She had noticed Keima being followed by Mobuko and tagged along just in case, but it seems her worries were ungrounded. Quite the opposite actually.

Well, Ayumi Takahara spoke to herself, it seems the Mai-High festival's going to be really interesting this year.

 **(* * *)**

 **So, one thing that is clearly visible is pretty much complete lack of Kanon in this chapter and I'm sorry for that. I feel we need more Kanon or Keima/Kanon moments and I hope we'll see them next chapter... but on the other hand I also wanted to do this: have Keima undergo some changes alone. Of course, they are tied to Kanon (and perhaps more than you may think), but this is something we haven't really explored in AyumiNomi or MioNomi: reality where Keima stops being viewed as the otamegane. Yes, he stills plays games and he's still not very good at socializing and not looking down on some people, but he makes more effort to at least not be a complete asshole and stay on amicable terms with his peers and family.**

 **Of course, one could ask is it easy for him and why he even did this? The answer to first question is: no, Keima has problems adapting to this new circumstances and isn't really sure how to react and how he even wants to be viewed. As for the second question... well, I suppose we'll have to see.**

 **I'm sorry if you didn't like the way this chapter played out from lack of Kanon to things moving too fast and too jarring (but I really wanted to add those Mobuko parts).**

 **On the other hand, the newspaper bit (lol, half-a-chapter-long bit) came out nicely, I think. I just loved to reference and make connections between various KamiNomi facts. The only problem is that it took me _forever_ to write and after that I was only done with half of it.  
**

 **Also, as you probably noticed we still didn't see what Keima decided to do with his mother's suggestion. I guess we'll see that in further chapters.**

 **As a side note, with the addition of Haruka Fukuda I think I need to make a list of all of Keima's OC classmates' names I have come up with so far. Class 3-B has now 11 names characters in total, though there's one I haven't really used so far.**

 **As usual I want to thank you very much for your support, for every favorite, follow and review. At the same time I want to encourage all readers to favorite, fav and review more and not just for me, but for other fics and fandoms as well. Favs, follows and reviews are like oxygen for fanfics and their authors. We can't write without them.**

 **Here are the replies to the latest reviews:**

 **Ghost Man:** thank you, it's always a pleasure to read your reviews. Heh, trap card indeed xD. Yes, monopoly is a bad omen :P. Maybe those managerial potential is why Okada wants to recruit Kema so much xD. Well, in manga when Elsie asks how "it" (gaming money) all comes from, Keima said "M-funds" (which means Mari/mom pays for it), so I supposed not. And yes, Mari can be analytical at times too. Lol, truth be told I cannot see the ending 100% yet actually. xD

 **UzumeofGamindustri:** thank you for the review. The chapter came out fast, because I just divided my chapter in two and posted it as separate chapters. I see we both agree at the demon fast thing. :)

 **Red Glasses (older review):** I'm sorry, but I think you're talking about something else here. I'm not sure if it's 100% different, but I think that short story won't be what you think it will be and I won't be updating KamiNomiNai for this. It'll be a separate story and I don't want to disclose to many details for now. Anyway, thank you very much for reviewing.

 **Red Glasses (newer review):** I'm not exactly sure I'm following you here. You have a point saying that Kanon is on an "another level" with her being an idol, but I wouldn't fully agree here. She also has her problems (like of time, yandere tendencies, her fame causing trouble for Keima). In that regard I'd say Ayumi also had her big pluses (she's a classmate who actually attends school at regular basis), while she also has her problems (tsundere, not on the best of terms with Keima). Mio was also a mixed bag. On the one hand she was not a classmate or an idol. On the other hand, her history with Keima wasn't so troublesome like Ayumi's. The bottom line is: yes, in KanonNomi Kanon had affected Keima very much, but this mostly counters her limited possibilities due to her idol job. It is also true that Kanon's stabbing during the Goddesses arc "tied" Kanon and Keima somewhat (at least in the context of this story). Saving Kanon's life made Kanon more grateful and gentle towards Keima (once again a contrast with Ayumi), so she has it easier with interacting with him and being honest with herself. I kinda agree that Kanon's route is different than Ayumi's and Mio's and this is even more visible in this chapter, when Kanon's fame kinda made Keima adapt to it and become more social (that's simplifying a bit, but yeah). Phew! That was a long of a response, but I'm very happy to see your review and glad you enjoyed the chapter. :)

 **Bug Bad Beowolf:** thank you very much. Glad you picked up on the girl acting crazy. Makes such mentions even more worth putting in. Heh, I can already see it: Keima, God of Monopoly xD. I usually assumed Keima's intelligence had more to do with his dad, but who knows ;). As for what I'm planning before Shiori, I'm sorry but I don't want to disclose it yet. I just hope it won't disappoint.

 **jargax (both reviews):** Glad you liked both chapters. You're actually right, it'd be a great chapter title. I'm also not sure if Keima wouldn't want to monetize the site earlier (it'd be logical), but for the sake of the story I assumed he didn't. I'm honored you want all the way to reread the entire story.

 **Sir Sleeps-a-lot:** lol, I'd certain pay to see a stream of that dinner :). Heh, so Kanon has been reading stories for adults, huh? Not very idol-like :P. Lol, Keima's a boss alright... though he sometimes gets bossed around by Kanon or his mom xD. Yeah, I bet three-stage dates would be nice too. Kanon is just in denial about this fact xD. Hopefully, Keima'll get a lot of subscribers. Lol, I look forward to see where it goes too :P. And, Kanon, this is Internet. You cannot delete stuff from here. It'll stay here forever xD. As always loved your review :).

 **Bone Crushing Dawg fss:** *consoles you* It's ok, at least we don't get kicked in the face as Keima does. Lol at the approval stamp and S &M xD. Who knows, maybe I'll write a lemon one day in as a separate story. Well, it was a rather minor confession. For now at least :P. Thank you for revewing :).

 **DarkDrawerJ (collective):** Thank you very much for all the reviews, glad you like the story :).

 **That's it for now folks. I have a _very_ small bit of one of the further chapters written and I'v also started preparing for that in-between story between Kanon's and Shiori's routes, but it's still a lot of work.**

 **Let's hope that the next KanonNomi chapter'll be earlier. I truly hope so.**

 **See you next time!**


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